This dissertation explores the activities of middle- and working-class African American women during and immediately after World War II in Detroit and Richmond, Virginia, in order to examine how World War II enabled African American women to negotiate new state structures in order to articulate citizenship in a way that located them within the state as contributors to the war effort and legitimated their calls for equality. This study provides a new understanding of the groundwork that lay behind the civil rights activism of the 1950s and 1960s. By looking at African American women's wartime protest and exploring how those women created templates for activism and networks for the dissemination of new discourses about citizenship, it reveals the gendered roots of the civil rights movement. This study uses a cross-class analysis within a cross-regional analysis in order to understand how African American women of different socioeconomic levels transformed their relationship with the state in order to use state structures to gain equality in diverse regions of the country. Class and region framed African American women's possibilities for activism. In both Detroit and Richmond, women's class positions and local government structures affected how African American women constructed claims to citizenship and maintained activist strategies to promote equality. This study finds that the new discourse and programs of middle-class African American women, linked with the attempts of working-class women to gain and retain jobs and better living conditions, contributed to a new sense of militancy and urgency within the civil rights movement of the 1940s and 1950s. By attempting to claim their rights based solely on their status as citizens within the state, African American women greatly contributed to the groundwork and the ideology of the more aggressive civil rights campaigns of the 1950s and 1960s. African American women's initial forays into desegregating restaurants, jobs, transportation, and housing created the momentum for the entire African American community's struggle for equality.

The research presented here fills a gap in the congressional literature by documenting the historical institutionalization of the U.S. Senate. After an extensive review of the institutionalization literature in Chapter Two, Chapters Three through Six qualitatively document the Senate's institutionalization over four chronological time periods: 1789-1860; 1861-1900; 1901-1946; 1947-1996. Using both primary and secondary sources, these chapters provide a comprehensive historical analysis of Senate development, covering key aspects such as committees, leaders, personnel and operations. Chapters Seven and Eight chart the Senate's institutionalization in a more systematic manner. Chapter Seven presents multiple indicators for each of four components of institutionalization: adaptability; autonomy; complexity; and coherence. Chapter Eight then models the process of Senate institutionalization. Using ordinary least squares and weighted least squares regression, it tests the model for each component of institutionalization. Political party opposition in the presidency, federal government activity, the Seventeenth Amendment and continuous majority control of the Senate by one political party all prove significant in one or more components of Senate institutionalization. Chapter Nine summarizes the Senate institutionalization process, and suggests how the Senate's post-World War II "transformation" fits into this larger, historical process.

Awekualawaachish, a Crow leader, negotiated the treaties of 1851 and 1868 with the U.S. Government. The purpose of this study was to investigate this leader's family background, war deeds, and political record. A review of documents and oral history of the Crow people revealed that this Crow Chief loved his people and negotiated to reserve land and a decent livelihood for future generations. It was evident that he had a role in shaping Crow political and social history and these are summarized. The study revealed that in spite of his valiant attempts to negotiate a fair deal for the Crow people government schemes such as Treaties, Agreements, Executive Orders, Laws, and Court Decisions have undermined what was originally negotiated. His negotiations and subsequent legislation are summarized.

Herein find a deeper look at hippie culture from the anthropological perspective, but still as observations from one deeply involved in that culture. Most of what has been written about the hippie culture has been written with an upturned nose, seemingly full of distaste. Many Native American academics share this distaste, although a true picture of hippie culture has never been offered. Leonard Wolf's Voices of the Love Generation is, perhaps, a singular exception, as his book of interviews gives voice directly to the flower children. The spiritual ties represent the most notable bonds of this community. Hippies believe all life is connected, and carry this philosophy into all aspects of ceremony. Thus, the wisdom of all peoples is essential, not merely relevant; Native American wisdom particularly important because contemporary Native Americans know more about the earth we tread here than anyone else alive can know.

Scholars of American Indian policy refer to the period from 1960 to present as the Self-Determination Era. However, President Richard Nixon is commonly credited with making self-determination the fundamental tenet of contemporary Indian policy through his 1970 message to Congress. The concept of self-determination embodies three main goals: tribal self-government; cultural survival; and economic development. Furthermore, Indian participation in tribal activities as well as the federal policy-making process is a key principle of self-determination. Self-determination, however, is not a single policy, but rather, a conglomeration of policy approaches originating in different branches of the federal government. There has been little uniformity in the executive and legislative approaches to contemporary Indian policy. As this thesis illustrates, congressional approaches to self-determination policy since 1970 have been more consistent than those of the executive branch.

The published works of Cherokee history, written from the Anglo-American cultural perspective, do not discuss how the culture and social structure disintegrated between the time of European contact and the "Trail of Tears." By reinterpreting the events of that period from a Cherokee perspective, the author hopes to explain the mechanisms involved in the collapse of traditional Cherokee social structures. The roles of the War Organization, and of women within that institution, are elaborated upon. The great tribal leader, Dragging Canoe, is discussed at length. The corruption of American-defined tribal leaders within the weakened Cherokee Nation during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries is considered as one of the principal factors in the downfall of the Cherokee people.

This thesis examines conflicts concerning public access to government records. By examining the beginning, evolution and current state of public records access in America, and specifically in Arizona, this thesis explores the question, "How much access to personal information contained in government records is too much?" It is my thesis that American democracy cannot survive without open government records. Open government records, including voter records, educational records, motor vehicle records, property tax records and real estate records, allow citizens to keep informed concerning government matters and to oversee the conduct of government employees and elected officials. American democracy is based upon this oversight by citizens. Without public access to government records, the principles of democracy would be undermined and freedoms eroded. This thesis concludes that the citizen's right to know, though not a constitutional right, is a right that Americans must protect to ensure a strong democracy.

<p> This study examined the experiences of Pentagon employees who survived the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on their workplace. Six participants provided individual stories of their human experiences. One-on-one interviews were used to gather data, which was analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings indicated that survivors who did not sustain physical injuries also had not received psychological evaluation or care. Social trauma of that magnitude required my awareness of the impact on participants to revisit elements associated with the experience. Unexpected traumatic experience through survivors' stories added to literature descriptions and meanings of individual employees in the United States. Trauma experience stories by people of various cultural development uncovered their support systems, coping techniques, and delved into stories which surfaced questions about the psychological and sociological impact of unexpected trauma on human life beyond this study. Patriotism, employee group cohesiveness, family support, and grief, duty, and dedication to the employees who died and were physically injured were responsible for Pentagon employee survivors' resilience to immediately pick up the pieces after the attack and beyond to continue to carry out the mission of the United States government. </p>

<p> Remember, remember the Fifth of November, Gunpowder, treason, and plot,I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason,Should ever be forgot. </p><p> This verse, first recorded in Britain in the mid-1820s, makes a plea for the remembrance of November 5, 1605&mdash;the date of the discovery and suppression of a conspiracy to assassinate King James I; detonate Westminster Palace, the house of Parliament; and, ultimately, substitute the anti-Catholic monarchy of England with a protectorate that would favor the Church of Rome. In early 1606, weeks after the collapse of the Plot, the king endorsed and the Parliament passed "An Act for a Public Thanksgiving to Almighty God Every Year on the Fifth Day of November"; some sixty years later the legislative assemblies of the American colonies started doing the same. So was the official memory of "gunpowder, treason, and plot" born on both sides of the Atlantic, first as Guy Fawkes Day in England and then as Pope's Day in America. </p><p> This dissertation provides a new political history&mdash;and a new study of popular religion&mdash;in British North America and the early United States. I construct a long history of the anniversary&mdash;and the historical memory of the Plot, in a variety of texts&mdash;in early America, ca. 1605-1865. I close-read almanacs, diaries, instructionals, letters, newspapers, novels, sermons, and textbooks as a means of understanding the process by which the memory of November 5 was appropriated, reconstructed, and re-politicized. Turning to the mid-eighteenth century, I assess the influence of the Fifth on the Great Awakening and the American Revolution and vice versa. I investigate what became of November 5 after 1783, and I scrutinize the many ways in which the creative arts and the partisan press made frequent use of the memory of the events of 1605. I consider both how that memory arose in new places after the Revolution and in what ways the parties of the republic, like the crowds of the colonies, evoked the Fifth as a warning against absolutism. Finally, I examine what became of "1605" the coming, and the waging, of the American Civil War.</p>

<p> For most of his presidency (1789-1797), George Washington worked to establish the federal government's legitimacy in the eyes of America's citizens while trying to gain international respect for the new nation. Although there was a broad elite consensus at the start of the decade it quickly dissipated in the face of basic questions about the federal government's power and scope of authority. Domestic political issues became entangled with foreign policy problems to create an intractable divide between opposing groups of Americans termed the Federalists and the Republicans. The two parties contended to see not only who would administer the government, but also to determine which group would define the new nation's identity. </p><p> This study places George Washington at the center of the contest over the formation of America's national identity during the 1790s. Washington envisioned America as the embodiment of Enlightenment ideals of freedom and liberty. He believed it had the potential to stand in stark contrast to the monarchies and despotism of the Old World. The United States could inspire other nations to follow its lead on the path to freedom. </p><p> America could only achieve this position if it were secure, united and independent. These three characteristics would give the nation legitimacy on the international stage. In his efforts to establish America's claim to nationhood, Washington incurred the displeasure of the Republican Party who viewed the president as a tool in the hands of Alexander Hamilton and other Federalists. In his quest to establish security, unity, and independence, they argued, the President betrayed the ideals of the Revolution. Ultimately, it was the public who cast aside Washington's vision for American national identity, not because they disagreed with it, but because they had already mythologized Washington to the point where he was more myth than man. He was a living deity who served a symbolic importance for unity, but had little impact on the nation's identity. </p><p> Historiographically, no scholar has undertaken an in-depth examination of Washington's political philosophy (as president), and specifically how this philosophy affected the nascent nation-state's identity. Works like Paul Longmore's <i>The Invention of George Washington,</i> Glenn Phelps's <i> George Washington and American Constitutionalism</i> and the recently published, <i>The Political Philosophy of George Washington</i> (Jeffry Morison) examine one aspect of Washington's political beliefs, or focus on a specific chronological period. My exploration of Washington's beliefs (the heart of the studies mentioned above) is only one part of the dissertation. No attempt has been made to investigate Washington's <i>substantive</i> impact on nationalism and identity. David Waldstreicher, Len Travers, and Joanne B. Freeman have all looked at the formation of nationalism and identity in the 1790s, but Washington's political philosophy and presidency earns little of their attention. Washington was the most well regarded American, nationally and internationally, of his era. The lack of a proper study on his political beliefs and their reception among his fellow Americans is a lacuna which the dissertation seeks to remedy.</p>