Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-02, Section: A, page: 1029. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1978.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 37-07, Section: A, page: 4567. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1976.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 37-07, Section: A, page: 4570. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1976.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 39-03, Section: A, page: 1788. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1978.

A study of the role which Bangor, Maine's leading citizens (the so-called "solid men") played in the business, economic, and political development of the community and how they reacted to the change which they helped to create. Despite its proximity to the more settled parts of New England, Bangor remained frontier-like well into the 19th century. As late as the 1820's barter remained an important means of exchange. By the end of the decade however the town's business future was well-defined as the growing demand for wood made Bangor a major timber center. This industry brought unprecedented growth to the town and attracted speculators who purchased both town and timber lands with the hope of quick profits. The problems created by this rapid expansion, coupled with the desire for the order and respectability of a more settled community led to the creation of a city government in 1834. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-03, Section: A, page: 0595. / Major Professor: Richard A. Bartlett. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 36-08, Section: A, page: 5500. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1975.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 39-11, Section: A, page: 6926. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1978.

William H. English was a prominent Democratic politician who represented eight southern Indiana counties in the United States Congress from 1853 to 1861. Raised in a strong Jacksonian environment, Mr. English early exhibited a marked attachment both to the Democratic party and to the glory of the Union. First politically employed at fifteen years old, he held an array of important official positions on both the state and federal level until his election to Congress at the age of twenty-nine. As a congressman, he took part every step of the way in the great debate on the issue of slavery in the territories. Throughout that debate he gamely tried to hold together the party of his patrimony, believing always that this would ensure the prosperous progress of the republic. His most famous moment came during the Lecompton controversy. It was then that he reputedly authored the bill bearing his name, winning him so much notoriety that his image appeared on the cover of Harper's Weekly. An early and strong supporter of Stephen Douglas's conception of popular sovereignty, Mr. English nevertheless eventually realized that the southern Democrats would never consent to its majoritarian core. Consequently, by 1860 he was reduced to trying to unite the party around its pronounced racism. But even that proved unsuccessful. / This work is not only concerned with the slavery issue. Also discussed in detail are Mr. English's four campaigns for the House of Representatives, his tenure as chairman of the House's Post Office Committee, and his position within the Indiana Democratic party. Moreover, the socio-economic background of Mr. English's district is analyzed, as is also his repeated attempts to enhance his constituents' economic prospects. These topics are based principally on primary sources--including Mr. English's private correspondence, his public pronouncements, debates in the Congressional Globe, and various newspaper accounts. The whole picture is of a congressman desperately seeking to solve the slavery question so that the country could return to its destined pursuit of material exploitation. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-12, Section: A, page: 4496. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.

Scholars have long recognized that violence has been an integral part of southern history and culture. This study deals with one of the most virulent forms of southern violence: the lynching of blacks. It examines all the recorded lynchings that occurred during the 1930's in Florida. / During the decade of the Great Depression vigilantes executed twelve black and three white victims in this southern state. These tragedies are detailed in a narrative account interwoven with a socio-economic analysis of Florida's various lynching communities, urban as well as rural. In all, this study deals with specific vigilante murders, the economic conditions of the Great Depression, the persisting frontier ethic of administering justice on a one-to-one basis outside the law, and the widespread belief that lynchers could murder their victims and go unpunished. / Governmental agencies on the federal, state, and local levels failed to identify most lynchers much less prosecute them. Manhunts, kidnappings, and carefully planned executions revealed the workings of Florida mobs at this time. The response to Florida vigilantism by the press--state, national, and black--is analyzed. Concerned groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Commission on Interracial Cooperation, the Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching, and the International Labor Defense are all part of the story explored in the following pages. / The Florida lynchings of the 1930's stimulated the antilynching drive of the day and in this way helped sensitize and develop the national conscience, which partially provided the groundwork for the civil rights movement of later years. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-02, Section: A, page: 0467. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.

This study focuses on Claude D. Pepper's senatorial career from 1936 through 1950. He came to the Senate as a supporter of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, and, throughout his fourteen years in Congress, remained a committed liberal. Along with contemporary liberal politicians from the South such as Alabama Congressman Carl Elliott, Senator and later Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, and Senator Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, Pepper supported an expansive role for the state in areas like health care, education, and regulation of the economy in solving the country's political, social, and economic problems. Yet, while he adhered to a position of federal activism on a broad range of interests, for the most part, he excluded racial justice from his agenda. In addition, Pepper challenged President Harry S. Truman's foreign policy. He believed that the Big Three wartime alliance--United States, Great Britain, Soviet Union--must continue into the post-war years in order to maintain peace. / The first chapter details Pepper's developing liberalism as a student at the University of Alabama and Harvard Law school. Chapter Two presents Pepper's rise to the Senate within the context of Florida politics and the national New Deal. In Chapter Three Pepper's reaction to fascism in Europe and Japanese imperialism in Asia is analyzed. He led the Senate in preparing the country for participation in World War II through his early involvement in formulating the Lend-Lease policy. Chapter Four describes Pepper's attempts to secure the New Deal during wartime. The fifth chapter traces Pepper's increasingly critical stands against Truman's confrontational policy toward the Soviet Union. The sixth and seventh chapters analyze Pepper's ties to Communism, ambivalence toward the emerging civil rights movement, and his challenge to Truman for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1948. Chapter Eight describes Pepper's defeat by George A. Smathers in the Florida Democratic Senatorial Primary of 1950. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-04, Section: A, page: 1497. / Major Professor: William W. Rogers. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.