Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2006. / Principal faculty advisor: Lois Potter, Dept. of English. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Florida State University, 2003. / Advisor: Dr. Bruce Bickley, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of English. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Oct. 1, 2003). Includes bibliographical references.

<p> Few modern economic historians dispute the notion that America's phenomenal economic growth over the last one hundred and fifty years was in large measure enabled by the development of the nation's antebellum Middle West&mdash;those states comprising the Northwest Territory and the Deep South that, generally, are located between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. By far, the labor of 14.8 million people, who emigrated there between 1830 and 1860, was the most important factor propelling this growth. </p><p> Previously, in their search for the origins of this extraordinary development of America's heartland, most historians tended to overlook the voices of a variety of peoples&mdash;African Americans, Native Americans, Mexicans, and artisans&mdash;who did not appear to contribute to the historical view of the mythic agrarian espoused by Thomas Jefferson and J. Hector St. John de Cr&egrave;vecoeur. Another marginalized voice from this era&mdash;one virtually forgotten by historians&mdash;is that of English women travel writers who visited and wrote about this America. Accordingly, it is the aim of this dissertation to recover their voices, especially regarding their collective observations of the economic development of America's antebellum Middle West. </p><p> After closely reading thirty-three travel narratives for microeconomic detail, I conclude that these travelers' observations, when conjoined, bring life in the Middle West's settler environment into sharper focus and further explain that era's migratory patterns, economic development, and social currents. I argue these travelers witnessed rabid entrepreneurialism&mdash;a finding that challenges the tyranny of the old agrarian myth that America was settled exclusively by white male farmers. Whether observing labor on the farm or in the cities, these English women travel writers labeled this American pursuit of economic opportunity&mdash;"a progress mentality," "Mammon worship," or "go-aheadism"&mdash;terms often used by these writers to describe Jacksonian-era Americans as a determined group of get-ahead, get-rich, rise-in-the-world individuals. Further, I suggest that these narratives enhanced migratory trends into America's antebellum Middle West simply because they were widely read in both England and America and amplified the rhetoric of numerous other boosters of the promised land in America's Middle West.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [279]-289).

Thesis (M.A.)--Florida State University, 2005. / Advisor: Dr. Daniel Vitkus, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of English. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed June 7, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains v, 68 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Notre Dame, 2005. / Thesis directed by Graham L. Hammill for the Department of English. "November 2005." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 373-404).

No description available.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of English

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on March 10, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Thesis advisor: Dr. Amanda Hinnant. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Lehigh University, 2004. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 358-374).