Influences on Foster Care Reentry Rate looked at demographic and socioeconomic characteristics in each state within the United States. Those characteristics were then studied to see how they related to foster care reentry rates. Then, a case study analysis was conducted on three states, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Tennessee, because of their similarity in demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and divergence in foster care reentry rates. The case analysis was an in depth pursuit of differences in each of the state's policies that may be a driving force of higher reentry rates.

Introduction: the "gloomy night of democracy": Federalist opposition to the Three-Fifths Clause -- 1. "Have these Haytians no rights?": restricting maritime commerce to safeguard slavery (1805-1806) -- 2. "Indissolubly connected with commerce": nonimportation, southern sectionalism, and the defense of New England -- 3. "Squabbles in Madam Liberty's family": Jefferson's embargo and the causes of Federalist extremism (1807-1808) -- 4. "O grab me!": the justification for disunion (1808-1809) -- 5. "Sincere neutrality": war, moderates, and the Federalists Party's decline (1810-1820) -- Epilogue: Old Romans: Federalist activism and the antislavery legacy (1820-1865). / https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu_books/1123/thumbnail.jpg

This thesis explores the creation of the Second Amendment and how it has been interpreted over time. The purpose of this thesis is to understand present-day debates over gun control and offer an interpretation of the right that best suits the modern era. By analyzing the history of gun ownership in the United States, it is clear that the intention of the Second Amendment was to extend the right to the individual and should not be limited to collective use. As the Bill of Rights was extended to protect the people from state governments, the history of states’ rights in the regulation of firearms should be taken into account. With a country divided in their views on gun control policy, states should maintain the power to regulate arms, with federal courts intervening only when legislation is particularly radical. This thesis offers an interpretation of the Second Amendment best suited for the nation on both historical and practical by investigating the most prominent debates today: individual vs. collective rights, federal vs. states’ rights. With all things considered, this thesis concludes the most suitable interpretation of the Second Amendment for the people is: a right of the people protected, as individuals, from federal infringement, and regulated by the states, that are checked by the federal courts only when deemed necessary.

An extensive body of research suggests that increasing access to contraception can improve the health of women and children and increase their socioeconomic mobility through increased wages and labor force participation. In the United States, however, contraception and childbearing has historically been used as a form of racist and eugenic population control. This thesis outlines the history of contraception in an intersectional context, inspired largely by the work of Martha Bailey and Dorothy Roberts, from forced childbearing during chattel slavery, to the forced and or coercive sterilization of large populations of Black and Brown women in the modern era. Given the historical racism of contraception, combined with the possibilities for increased socioeconomic mobility and self-determination that accompany increased access to contraception, leads this thesis to ask: who lacks access to contraception in the U.S. today? An original analysis of data from the Guttmacher Center determines that Hispanic women are the most likely to lack access to birth control, followed by younger women and impoverished women. These findings, in conversation with the current implications of the racist past of contraception, imply the need for anti-racist contraception programs that prioritize informed consent and patient autonomy. Such programs could improve women’s and child health, decrease government spending, and contribute to increasing economic and racial equality.

Since the mid-1970s, partisan polarization has been increasing in Congress and the Presidency, and, although most voters lack a stable, consistent ideology, non-ideological forms of partisan polarization have emerged in the mass public in recent decades. Moreover, ideological polarization among elites is highly asymmetrical, with increased Republican conservatism accounting for most of the increased ideological distance between the parties. Here, I develop a racial-threat backlash theory and argue that increased rates of immigration are associated with increased asymmetrical ideological polarization among elites and in the mass public. Tests of this theory on voters, the mass public in the states, state legislators, and Senators provide support for my theory. In addition, when accounting for the effects of immigration, I do not find support for the alternative explanation that increased income inequality leads to increased asymmetrical partisan polarization.

This thesis argues that the 1938 Kentucky Democratic primary was a critical moment for the New Deal and the Democratic Party. Furthermore, it demonstrates the fractures forming within the southern wing of the party. Through this primary the paper examines peoples’ perceptions of a changing democracy. One that they believed included a much more powerful president and meddling bureaucracy. It details the major points of the campaign, including Franklin Roosevelt’s visit to the state the famous poisoning accusations, and the corruption within the Works Progress Administration.

The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 made the production of an annual comprehensive budgetary framework the central focus of the federal budget process. Before 1974, the budget process had allowed legislation from each of the revenue committees and each of the appropriations subcommittees to come to the floor separately. Congress judged the merits of individual programs without considering the overall budget. The 1974 budget act changed the organizational ethos of the budget process from incremental change to comprehensive review and from fragmented, ad hoc decision making to coordinated decision making. It helped sort members into ideologically homogenous groups by transforming many battles over separate policy priorities into one grand battle over the biggest question in American politics: What is the role of government? The 1974 shift to comprehensive budgeting, along with subsequent additional controls on budget practices, has magnified and accelerated the effects of the many polarizing forces that have characterized the last 40 years of American politics. With this conclusion come unanswered questions regarding the merits of a distinct two-party system, as well as the potential need for comprehensive budgeting despite its political challenges.

After a full first term without any Supreme Court nominations, and almost no cooperation from the Court in regards to the New Deal, President Franklin D. Roosevelt decided to introduce a Court-packing plan into the Legislature that would allow him to add six new justices to the Court if necessary. The Bill failed in both the House and Senate but time allowed Roosevelt to have his chance to “pack” the court. Roosevelt nominated some of the best justices the Court has seen, and with their service the Supreme Court was forever changed.

The American political system is currently not as meritocratic or functional as it should be. The reasons for this can be traced to problems in five categories of the political landscape: The System, The Elections, The Electorate, The Media, and The Money. These deficiencies cause less able leaders to be voted into office, and make it harder for politicians to generate positive results for their people. By addressing these problems, American democracy can exist in its healthiest form.

The Republican Party of California faces a serious demographic challenge as a burgeoning Latino population threatens to turn this majority-minority state a darker shade of blue. The purpose of my research and of this thesis is to explore the relationship between Latino voters in California and the Republican Party and to draw conclusions about the most viable and proven means of attracting Latino votes to Republican candidates. The Latino vote is by no means a lost cause for Republicans. My research supports several claims, which are laid out here and discussed throughout the paper. The first is that the Republican Party waits now at a crucial moment of opportunity for failure or survival in California. The next is that there are multiples issues with which the GOP can make inroads with Hispanic communities. The research available leads me to conclude that it matters less what Republicans might say about these issues, and more how and where (and even in what language) they say it.