Between 1784 and I8l6, all four Barbary nations had captured and enslaved Americans. Generally the pirates treated the imprisoned Americans harshly, but the aid the United States forwarded to them alleviated much of their suffering. During this period the prisoner issue played an important role in formulating American foreign policy in the Mediterranean because of America's keen commercial interest in that region and its benevolent attitude toward its own citizens. In return, those captive Americans in North Africa supplied their government with valuable intelligence, and, after liberation, some continued to serve their country in the Mediterranean area.

Papers, memoirs, diaries, letters and autobiographies from 1791-1807 are studied to determine the relationship between Jefferson and Burr. A limited examination of congressional records for the same period was made. Monographs and biographies of Jefferson, Burr and their contemporaries were studied. This study shows that the relationship between Jefferson and Burr was one of political expediency and that Jefferson's antipathy toward Burr began in 1791 and not as a result of the House presidential election of 1801. The thesis concludes that Jefferson used Burr's political influence in New England to achieve Democratic -Republican control of the federal government and then used the alleged conspiracy between Burr and the Federalists during the House election of 1801 as an excuse to begin Burr's political destruction.

The purpose of this paper is to examine, from a local perspective, the reaction of the southern conservative wing of the Democratic party to the liberal changes which occurred in that organization as a result of the transitional decades of the 1930s and 1940s. In particular, the study focuses on the growing sense of alienation and the eventual withdrawal of a handful of Texas Democrats from affiliation with the national body and their subsequent realignment with other dissident Dixie Democrats in the short-lived States' Rights party of 1948. This work is based essentially on the personal recollections of Texans who participated in the States' Rights movement and on those papers of the party's leaders which have survived until today.

Several books have been written about Sam Rayburn, but thus far there has been no attempt to analyze Rayburn's rise to power. No one has delved sufficiently into his political philosophy, his motivations, and his personal convictions regarding the pivotal events of the turbulent 1930s. This dissertation endeavors to fill that void by tracing the course of events which led Sam Rayburn to the speakership of the United States House of Representatives. It records his triumphs, his shortcomings, the concessions he made, and the people he served in order to achieve his life's ambition. The scope of this study ranges from Rayburn's first expression of interest in the speakership to his elevation to that position in 1940. Brief coverage is given to his three terms in the Texas Legislature, beginning in 1906, and his election to Congress in 1912. A more extensive analysis is made of his early congressional association with John Nance Garner and its pivotal influence on his career. A brief analysis is offered of Rayburn's political and legislative activities prior to the election of 1932. The primary emphasis of this study, however, revolves around Rayburn's activities during the years 1932-1940-- the first two terms of President Franklin …