As was true of most intellectual trends in colonial America, deism originated in England and spread to the colonies. To understand deism as it developed in eighteenth century America, one must examine the roots and mature status of deism in England. Deism did not emerge as an entirely new system of thought in seventeenth century England. The disputes, schisms and wars of the Reformation laid a negative foundation for its appearance. The counter-accusations of the clergy of different sects provided ammunition for its anticlerical campaign. The Reformation itself, by its rejection of the ritualism and authority of the Roman Catholic Church, its teaching that in matters of religion each individual should use his own reason, and its putting greater stress on the ethical element in religion, was a movement in the same direction as deism. It did not, however, advance as far. To replace the authority of the Catholic Church, the Protestants substituted the Bible.

The purpose of this study is to present an historical account of the Liberal Republican movement during the Reconstruction period. The Liberal movement was chosen for investigation because it was the first prominent third party movement in the post-Civil War years. The Liberal Republican movement was less important in shaping the policies of the two major policies than later third party movements, and, in fact, its long range results are almost impossible to trace. By gaining national prominence, however, and by accepting the Democrats in a coalition, the movement did provide a much needed stimulus to the Democratic party and caused the Republicans to reconsider their policies. It also provided an example to later movements that a third party could gain a great deal of support by advocating and working for general political reform.

The idea of the Texas Revolution as an internal conspiracy cannot be eliminated. This thesis describes the role of a small minority of the wealthier settlers in Texas in precipitating the Texas Revolution for their own economic reasons. This group, made up of many of the leading figures in Texas, were, for the most part, well-to-do farmers, merchants, and professional men.. Most of them were slaveholders, and their prosperity depended upon the continued existence of this institution. In their minds, the entire economic growth and development of Texas rested upon slavery. When the Mexican government began to threaten the economic future of Texas by the passage of prohibitatory laws on slavery and commerce, many of the leaders in Texas began to think of freeing Texas from Mexican control. The threat to their own economic position and prosperity gave birth to the idea of Texas independence.

Although a great deal has been written on the Paris Peace Conference, only in recent years have the necessary German documents been available for an analysis of the conference, not only from the Allied viewpoint but also from the German side. One of the great problems faced by the Allied statesmen in 1919 was the territorial conflict between Germany and Poland. The final boundary decisions were much criticized then and in subsequent years, and in 1939 they became the excuse for another world war. In the 1960's, over twenty years after the boundaries established at Versailles ceased to exist, they continued to be subjects of controversy. To understand the nature of this problem, it is necessary to study the factors which influenced the delineation of the German-Polish boundary in 1919. From the conflict of national interests there emerged a compromise boundary which satisfied almost no one. After this boundary was destroyed by another world war, the victors were again faced with the complex task of reconciling conflicting strategic and economic necessities with the principle of self-determination. This time no agreement was possible, and the problem remained a significant factor in German-Polish and East-West relations. The methods by which the statesmen …

This investigation into local government and politics surrounding the liquor question significantly unveils the turmoil within a community over an issue of intense interest, It illustrates how a gap in legislation enabled subversion of incorporation laws and violation of the majority will by a small but determined group. The pressures and tactics used by both opposing interests in this crisis reveal misuse of the law, possible pay-offs, secret meetings of public bodies, and other illicit occurrences. More importantly, it demonstrates the respect well-meaning citizens have for established law and order. Both sides fought hard for their interests and beliefs, but when appeals had been made to the highest authority, and the ultimate decision had been rendered, then all adherents accepted the reality of the situation, and co-exist on increasingly friendly terms.

Conservatism in America declined during the 1930's, then in the post-war years began to revive in what has been termed a "wonder"l and the most surprising development of the post-war period. Yet an even more surprising development has been the re-emergence of an important American phenomenon within conservatism: the far right.3 Far right activities gained national attention during the McCarthy era, and again in 1960 as a result of the controversy over the Air Reserve Center Training Manual, the San Francisco student riots against the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), the possibility of a young liberal Roman Catholic's becoming president of the United States, and the alarm that President Eisenhower would soon retire from public life.

"The theme of this work centers around the Negro and his association with the Radical Republican party. For eight years this party controlled the state government of Texas and, the Negro's participation during this period cannot be overlooked. The Negro possessed, at this time, two valuable assets, the right of suffrage and a strength in numbers. It was through the careful coordination of these two assets that the Radicals were able to gain and maintain control of Texas politics."--Leaves iii-iv.

"The history of the Spanish-speaking population of Texas, as noted throughout this study, is synonymous with this group's struggle to overcome its social and economic subordination in a society where Anglo-American culture, language, and customes predominate. Mexican-American politics during this century have included several factors, namely abolishment of predjudices against Americans of Mexican ancestry, improvement of educational facilities and opportunities, eradication of this group's social apathy, and elimination of any other inequities which plagued this ethnic group. Progress in these fields was, Mexican-American leaders believed, precursory to direct governmental participation of Texans of Mexican descent - as voters and candidates - in local, state, and national elections."--leaf 90.

The history of the Osages from 1808 to 1839 may be conveniently divided into three major sections, each separated by a cession treaty. The first begins with the cession treaty of 1808 and terminates with the cession of 1818. It covers the Osages' relations with the whites and the eastern tribes during that decade. The second section begins with the 1818 session treaty and ends with the land cession of 1825. It likewise covers the tribe's relations with the eastern tribes and the whites. The concluding division covers the period from the Osages' last major cession treaty to their removal to Kansas in 1839, and includes their relations with the eastern tribes, the western tribes, and the whites. These three sections combined cover the most turbulent period in Osage history, a period in which the United States Government and the powerful eastern tribes took the extensive Osage lands by right of conquest.

This paper discusses the influence of religious aspects in rural thought and how they played in the activities of agrarian movements and farm protest movements. The religious orientations of major agrarian reformers in Texas is discussed, as well as the similarities between Protestant religious institutions and agrarian institutions, specifically the Farmers' Alliance and People's Party of Texas.

Much controversy has surrounded recent American policy toward China. Books of various stripes--distortions, misrepresentations, emotional accounts, and purportedly scholarly studies--have dealt with the formulation of a China policy. Several of the objective studies have featured the role that politics played in reducing American freedom of action. The emphasis has been that, since American diplomatic strategy during the decade of the 1940's was a Democratic responsibility, Republican critics took political advantage of the China "tangle." As congressional criticism mounted, the framework within which the Truman Administration could evolve a policy was increasingly restricted. With the Communist victory in China and the subsequent Korean War, Democratic strategy had apparently backfired. The public became aroused, and policy makers have since had difficulty adjusting to realities.

In 1763, the British government attempted to control land hungry colonists by prohibiting settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains. The ambitious attempt failed. Two years later! Great Britain, submitting to the pressure of land speculators, homestead seekers, and fur trappers, initiated the treaty making process with the American Indians. Although the Indians had no concept of private property, they exchanged their mountains and valleys for whiskey, beads, and muskets. Following independence, the American government continued the British policy of treaty making and pushing the red men out of the path of white civilization. After the Louisiana Purchase, many Americans considered the region lying beyond the Mississippi River a convenient area in which to settle the Indians. A policy of concentration evolved through John C. Calhoun's idea of a permanent Indian country where settlers had no desire to go. The white man's drive for the western lands doomed this policy to failure. During the 1850's the federal government extinguished Indian title to much of the Great Plains and opened the prairies for white settlement. By the 1860's, only two large areas remained in which to concentrate the red men--Indian Territory and the public lands north of Nebraska. Treaty negotiations for moving …

"In the first fifty years of the twentieth century, Denton County's chief asset was the fertility of its land. Today the county's main asset is still its land but for a different reason. As industry decentralizes, as the city populace searches for new areas of settlement, as the county's educational institutions expand, as investors look for new tracts of land, as builders construct large interstate highways, and as digging machines create lakes and recreational areas, the principal asset of the county becomes the non-agrarian utility of its land. Accompanying this land value shift has been an occupational change."-- leaf 103.

"This thesis describes the art of logistics practiced by Santa-Anna and his staff in the marches from Northern Mexico to San Jacinto and Goliad, and the subsequent withdrawal. The method, or methods, employed to keep such an army in fighting condition are analyzed as it moved slowly and uncertainly across the desert and semi-desert areas, over burnt-out prairies and flooding rivers. To obtain the most complete picture of the Mexican army's movements and needs, the letters and diaries of the outstanding Mexican participants were used. Whenever possible American sources were studied to substantiate any seemingly questionable information in the Mexican accounts...As this thesis is primarily concerned with logistics, battles are not covered in detail. In cases where a conflict between American and Mexican sources exists concerning any phase of the Mexican military movements during the Texan revolution, both sides are presented, and an attempt made to evaluate them objectively." -- leaf x.

"This study deals primarily with the technical aspects of the cotton trade, examining the extent and nature of the trade, the activities of the state and Confederate governments to control cotton, and the specific problems of transportation. The concluding chapter, however, is devoted to the cotton economy in perspective, giving special attention to the financial aspects of buying and selling cotton and to the contribution of the cotton trade to Texas and the Trans-Mississippi Confederacy."--leaves iv-v.

Chapter I. Early political and diplomatic career -- Chapter II. Anson Jones, Secretary of State -- Chapter III. Independence or annexation -- Chapter IV. Annexation achieved -- Chapter V. Assessment -- Bibliography.

At a very early date, it must have been apparent to the Chickasaws that their only hope of survival in the face of a steadily encroaching white man's world would be to imitate and emulate the latter's society, his Constitution, and his laws. Long before Andrew Jackson signed the Removal Act destined to uproot large numbers of peoples and result in some of the greatest mass migrations in the history of the United States, the Chickasaws, largely by a process of trial and error, attempted to sow the seeds for their plan of survival in keeping with their realization of this all-important fact. After arriving in the new land soon to be known as Indian Territory, they continued this process in the hope that their identity as a tribe and a Nation might never be lost. The Chickasaw experience in Indian Territory became indicative of a culture confronted with possible extermination by a larger and more powerful culture. Their story illustrates an intense struggle on the part of the Chickasaws to utilize and regulate the land on a tribal basis of ownership in the face of a fast encircling world which favored the concept of individual private property. One of …

In the decade following the Civil War the Texas political scene was dominated by revisionist activity with regard to the state's constitution. In that period the organic law of the state was altered three times, twice because of the exigencies of National Reconstruction and a third time to satisfy the retrenchment impulses partially stimulated by the Reconstruction experiment. None of the three constitutions written during this ten year period can be properly understood in isolation from the other two, nor can any of them be correctly interpreted separate from the serious post-war political, social, and economic issues faced by the entire nation. Hence, a uniform study of the three constitutions in their local context and their relations to national problems of the period provides a field of significant research and evaluation. It is the purpose of this study to analyze the constitutional changes of the Reconstruction era in Texas in their historical perspective, giving special attention to both the internal political structures and the socio-economic considerations dominant during that period.

"This study is interested primarily in the political and economic philosophies which motivated the men who came to power in Texas following the overthrow of the Reconstruction regime, and which dominated the public affairs of the state during those years. It approaches the problem from the viewpoint of the positions of various individuals regarding the more prominent issues of the day, both state and national. The concentrates on the administrations of five governors of Texas and the tenures of five members of Congress. These men are viewed in relation to the times, and Texas is observed in light of its peculiar problems and its relation to the United States as a whole." -- leaf iv.

"No adequate history of the activities of the Texas state government during the Civil War has been written. Instead this phase of state history has been treated only in a limited manner in general state and Civil War histories. A history of the state government's functions and role during this period is essential to understanding Texas' development as a state and its place in the Confederacy. This work is an attempt to provide such a history. A study of the internal political affairs of Texas during the war years, this work begins with the movement toward secession and ends with the collapse of the state government and the establishment of military rule in Texas. Emphasis has been placed on revealing how the state government attempted to cope with the numerous problems which the war engendered and the futility of these attempts." -- p.iii

It was Woodrow Wilson who played the dominant role in the Council of Four. With his dedication to the vague, often contradictory Fourteen Points, and with the power of the office of President of the United States supporting him, he determined the very nature of the treaty. Wilson's use, and misuse, of his influence over his colleagues makes him responsible for much of the final form of the Treaty of Versailles.

This thesis examines the history of Jefferson, Marion County, Texas, and its cycle of prosperity and decline.

This study will focus on the role of George Perkins in the development and decline of the Progressive Party. Theodore Roosevelt is often at the center of this story for the Bull Moose and the Progressives were closely intertwined. Ultimately, the inconsistencies of the master-politician Roosevelt and the detrimental influence of Perkins contributed to the downfall of the Progressive Party of 1912.

Although this study reveals the positions that the opposition parties took regarding unemployment, it is primarily concerned with unemployment as an internal political problem of the British Labour party.