SNHU Academic Archive

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Trans-Appalachian America and the National Road
(Southern New Hampshire University, 2018-07-16) Boyd, Edward L.; Denning, Robert; Chan, Christopher
Following the Revolutionary War, the British ceded the Northwest Territory to the United States. This territory was the land north and west of the Ohio River to the Mississippi. The territory corresponds to the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and an eastern portion of Minnesota. With Britain controlling the Great Lakes to the north and Spain to the south and west, this remained a landlocked territory whose only access to the eastern seaboard was over rugged mountain trails. In 1784, George Washington wrote of the need to link the western territory to the eastern states. He proposed an improved road to link an eastern river with the Ohio. Washington’s vision was accomplished as Congress enacted legislation during the Jefferson Administration for this infrastructure project. In 1811, work began at Fort Cumberland on the Potomac River in Maryland. The road conquered the mountains and reached the Ohio River in 1818. Originally known as the Cumberland Road, the National Road was eventually extended to Columbus, Ohio, Indianapolis, Indiana and finally Vandalia, Illinois in 1837. The federal funding and oversight of the road faced challenges from narrow readings of constitutional authority. Proponents of the road resorted to alarmist rhetoric, portraying the road as necessary, even vital, to prevent the nation becoming divided and separated by the mountainous terrain. This paper will evaluate the alarmist rhetoric in relation to the potential threats of disunion. Primary and secondary sources will be used in an ethnographical analysis of western culture and nationalism to demonstrate that the western settlers were patriots. The threat of disunion was used to justify federal control and funding for the National Road.
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The Evils of Bolshevism
(Southern New Hampshire University, 2018-07-14) Young, Jan; Denning, Robert
In recent months, Russia has been the focus of many investigation and has been the topic of choice of the United States and its media. It is believed that a reinvigorated and bolstered Russia is now making itself known once more as key power player on the world stage. By utilizing modern day social media as modern-day propaganda tool and with limited invasions of neighboring former republics. Russia is now making a power play to influence elections, economies and its neighbors once more . Not more than a century ago, Russia and its Bolsheviks would feel this same type of invigoration when it attempted to spread unwanted Marxism throughout Central and Eastern Europe. Led by Lenin, Trotsky and later Stalin, these men would push a deadly agenda that had no bounds. Their agenda was simple, they wanted countries, societies and the church to be reformed so they could control all features of the individuals who rested in their Bolshevik and now imperialist path. The goal of the paper is to look back at its beginnings and reflect upon how Russia used propaganda, violence, pandemics and an economic crisis to push their unwanted Bolshevik outline. It will track how certain countries would be infiltrated by disheartened soldiers who had lost faith in their current leaders and their countries. It will look at its usages of media to push its schema. All these factors will be looked at with multiple lenses to see of Russia of yesteryear is now mirroring Russia of today. By looking at the past maybe we can see some clues of the future.
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Fort Laramie A Historic Guide to the West Historic Buildings Guide
(Southern New Hampshire University, 2018-02-03) Wayland, Andrew; Denning, Robert; Chung, Yun Shun Susie; Chan, Christopher
Fort Laramie National Historic Site in southeastern Wyoming recalls the days of the frontier period of the West (1760s to 1890s). From 1849 to 1890, the military fort at Fort Laramie was an important center of diplomacy, trade, and warfare on the Northern Plains. Many of the most important and vivid figures working to expand America passed through Fort Laramie. Trappers, fur traders, missionaries, overland emigrants, homesteaders, cowboys, soldiers, and Plains Indians all had an impact at Fort Laramie. Through various media resources, Fort Laramie’s history is told and one of the most important aspects of this history, the physical historic structures is only briefly touched upon. The historic structures are just one of the many focal points that can be concentrated on during a typical visitor experience. A qualitative analysis into the archival documents through the Fort Laramie Library & Archive, Fort Laramie Interpretation Cache, interviews with National Park Staff at Fort Laramie and interviews with local historians are able to be compiled into a Historic Buildings Guide that fully explore the historic structures at Fort Laramie which are a significant part of its history.
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Righting an Injustice or American Taliban? The Removal of Confederate Statues
(Southern New Hampshire University, 2018-07-12) Reif, Andreas Wolfgang; Denning, Robert
In recent years, several racial instances have occurred in the United States that have reinvigorated and demanded action concerning Confederate flags, statues and symbology. The Charleston massacre in 2015 prompted South Carolina to finally remove the Confederate battle flag from state grounds. The Charlottesville riots in 2017 accelerated the removal of Confederate statues from the public square. However, the controversy has broadened the discussion of how the Civil War monuments are to be viewed, especially in the public square. Many of the monuments were not built immediately following the Civil War, but later, during the era of Jim Crow and the disenfranchisement of African Americans during segregation in the South. Are they tributes to heroes or are they relics of a racist past that sought not to remember as much as to intimidate and bolster white supremacy? This work seeks to break up the eras of Confederate monument building and demonstrate that different monuments were built at different times (and are still being built). The monuments reflect other events in the country happening at the time, as well as the thinking of those who built them. This author hopes that these nuances will add to the general discussion and the usual three responses toward the statues of either taking them down to either destroy them, keep them, but add context, or place them in museums, cemeteries or private property. These nuances are important, possibly rendering all three as valid decisions. This author will use multiple lenses, including Union, Confederate, and African American lenses as interpreters for the various eras discussed.
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Her-sterics vs Hysterics: Reflecting on Women and Mental Health Treatment in The United States; 1800-Present
(Southern New Hampshire University, 2018-07-12) Potenza, Victoria Ann; Denning, Robert; Chung, Yun; Irving, Robert
The history of women’s treatment in the mental health field is long and complicated. Women were treated significantly different than men and many of the theories and ideas that doctors and early psychiatrists had were based on stereotypes about what a woman should act like in society. The mental health field grew rapidly in the early 1800s and many of the original ideas about how women should be treated still exist in the field today. The OMEKA online exhibit will show how differently women were treated within the field as well as showing how treatments and techniques have changed from the early 1800s to present day.