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The Choctaw \u27Net Proceeds\u27 Delegation and the Treaty of 1855
Get PDFA period of intense three-way negotiation between the United States Government, the Choctaw Nation, and the Chickasaw Nation began April 10, 1855. The issues under consideration were the Choctaw\u27s desire for the "net proceeds" from the sale of lands in Mississippi ceded to the United States in the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek (1830), the political autonomy desired by the Chickasaws residing in the Choctaw Nation, and the lease of land in the western portion of the Choctaw Nation to the United States for "the permanent settlement of the Wichita and such other tribes or bands of Indians as the government may desire to locate therein."1 The purpose of this paper is to explore the interconnected nature of these three issues and their historical context, the relative weakness of the Choctaw\u27s negotiating position vis-ÃÂ -vis the United States and the Chickasaw delegation, and the culmination of these negotiations in the Treaty of 1855. As an example of the treaty-making process, the negotiations of 1855 reveal the legalistic fiction that was at the heart of the process; a process ultimately ended by Congress in 1871
Jefferson and the Post-War Era: Race, Miscegenation, and History
Get PDFThe memory of Thomas Jefferson has long been associated with the American experience of race and slavery. Just as Jefferson\u27s words are used whenever freedom, liberty, and democracy need defending, Jefferson\u27s example is used whenaever racial hypocrisy is criticized. In the nineteenth century, abolitionists used Jefferson\u27s words as weapons, while Southerners used his example as a defense. It is the issue of race that has most clouded Jefferson\u27s reputation in the second half of the present century. As the Civil Rights Movement gradually became a success, and as scholars increasingly realized that Jefferson\u27s notion of equality was not the same as the modern idea of equality, Jefferson\u27s fortunes began to fall in the academic community. Discussions of Jefferson\u27s legacy have become increasingly complex since the nation celebrated the 200th anniversary of his birth in 1943. Ambivalence and qualification now surround most writing on Jefferson as the innocence of the 1940s and 1950s yielded to the skepticism and cynicism of later decades. Jefferson\u27s life is a parallel with the destiny of the nation with regard to racial issues, and this parallel can be seen in the histories that have been written about Jefferson
Tiberius Down the Line
Get PDFThroughout history, men have fought over the question of who would be the next one to rule over ancestral territory. History is filled with stories of people who wanted so badly to be "king" or "emperor" that they tried every ploy that they could think of to attain those positions of supreme power. Usually, the rewards associated with being the sole person in charge of an immense mass of people and land are considered to be so great that few who had either been born into it, or been thrust into by the whims of chance, ever refused it or tried to find some way to avoid the responsibility. However, this does not mean that there were not exceptions to this rule. But refusing to serve as the sole ruler of a given state is not always a practical option. Clearly, Tiberius (42 B.C.E.-37 C.E.), Rome\u27s second emperor (r.14-37 C.E.), fought his appointment as his step-father Augustus\u27 replacement as ruler of the Roman possessions as much as anyone in history has ever fought any forced assumption of responsibilities that entirely conflict with their basic natures and desires in life. But, due to the realities of the Roman political state immediately following the death of Augustus in 14 C.E., namely the fact that had Tiberius refused to serve as emperor, civil war would have broken out almost immediately, refusing the position was hardly an option.So, after only a short time dragging his heels and trying to will away the inevitable, Tiberius gave up protesting his selection for the position and allowed himself to be called emperor of Rome. But, if he had only known the way that the scholars and writers were going to continuously appraise and reappraise their assessments of every little detail of his day-to-day existence, often completely re-slanting a previous author\u27s interpretation of a given event that occurred during his reign to justify their own personal ambitions and objectives, he might have been so disgusted by the whole mess that he would have been inspired to find some way to make the old Republic work again
Victory at St. Mihiel
Get PDFFew battles in military history can be judged both tactical and strategic successes. The World War I Battle of St. Mihiel is one of these. Its success can be attributed to many reasons: the excellence of the battle plan, the leadership of the generals and field commanders, the enthusiasm of the American doughboys, and the lack of German will to hold the salient. But above all, its success depended on the great cooperation within the newly-instituted American Chief-of-Staff command, and within the recently-formed Allied command, both of which allowed for the powerful massing of troops and materials needed to defeat a determined enemy fighting a total war. Cooperation produced the massive army which formed for the first time at St. Mihiel - an army "nearly four times as large as Grant\u27s Army of the Potomac at its maximum strength. three times Napoleon\u27s Grand Army at Leipzig, nearly twice the German army at Sedan in 1870, and much larger than either the Japanese or Russian armies at Mukden, the largest on record before 1914."
An Even Keel: The Judicial Example of John Marshall Harlan
Get PDFNorman Dorsen, who clerked for John Marshall Harlan II, did not adopt the same judicial philosophy as the Justice he worked for. He did, however, develop a strong respect for his one-time mentor. The desire of Justice Harlan to provide balance in all things, "to keep things on an even keel," as Dorsen remembers him saying, well represents the judicial philosophy of Harlan.1 Harlan came from a family of some political and legal prestige, and his upper class background, his commitment to federalism and the separation of powers, and his desire to hold to neutral principles on the Court shaped his judicial philosophy
Silent Star: The Forgotten Film Career of Margarita Fischer
Get PDFChildhood fame, a clandestine marriage, national popularity, nude photos, premature retirement from the public eye, a spouse\u27s early death--the progression of silent film star Margarita Fischer\u27s career from 1911 to 1927 was as colorful as the plot of any of her pictures. The moviegoing public loved Fischer\u27s work. A June 1914 Photoplfly poll named her America\u27s most popular actress, and American Beauty Films selected Fischer\u27s face as one of the nation\u27s most beautiful and recognizable to serve as its logo the same year.1 Her final film, Uncle Tom\u27s Cabin (1927), directed by husband Harry Pollard, was one of the most expensive and highly-hyped films then made by a major studio.
Moses Mendelssohn\u27s Approach to Jewish Integration in Light of His Reconciliation of Traditional Judaism and Enlightenment Rationalism
Get PDFPrior to the eighteenth century, European Jews lived in separate communal structures at the discretion of their host countries.1 A very few found places of influence and wealth as "court Jews" and lived as aristocrats, but their acceptance in society was limited, subject to official approval, and came at a price.2 There had always been opportunities for Jews to integrate into European society, albeit not without complication, via assimilation and conversion.3 But the ability to enter the social order as Jews and find a place to belong without rejecting their heritage and religion proved elusive. The emergence of modem Europe posed a threat to individuals of many religious traditions, not just Jews. The rise of Enlightenment rationalism struck at the foundation of all revealed religion. But Jews, being outside the \u27Christian\u27 consensus, faced especially difficult obstacles in navigating the currents of contemporary thought if they sought to integrate into European society. The first Jew to achieve success in large measure in this endeavor was Moses Mendelssohn
A Voice for Freedom: The Life and Achievements of William Wells Brown
Get PDFThe issue of slavery was a widely debated topic during the antebellum period, which created a division in American society. The partition was quite prominent between those who wanted to continue the "peculiar institution" and the abolitionists who wanted to see an end to slavery. The abolitionist movement grew rapidly in the United States. Many outstanding white Americans and African-Americans, several of whom were former slaves, joined the movement. William Wells Brown was an African-American abolitionist who rose from the chains of slavery to significant status within the abolitionist movement and ultimately in American society. Brown enjoyed a wide-ranging career in the abolitionist movement, more so than many other notable African-American abolitionists. Brown\u27s popular literary works, and the awareness he brought to the capabilities of African-Americans, earned him a well-known spot in history
"It is a perfect hell to me": L.R. Webber Experiences Soldiering in Civil War Missouri
No full textAt the close of more than six months of soldiering in Missouri during the opening year of the American Civil War, L. R. Webber, a private in Company D of the First Kansas Volunteer Infantry, wrote to a friend in Lawrence, Kansas, "I almost wish sometimes that I might fall in battle fighting bravely and thus be discharged honorably from farther service in this Regiment." He then elaborated as to why he wished to be separated from the regiment in such a drastic manner: "If what is practiced in this outfit is good soldiering then I never can get to be a good soldier. Getting drunk, stealing, shirking duty, rioting and imposing upon the few who are steady is the prevailing discipline in this Regiment. It is a perfect hell to me.\u27\u27
Hearing All American Voices: Interpreting the Little Bighorn
Get PDFThe true nature of the events of June 25, 1876, continues to elude us. To this day Custer buffs, Native Americans, and professional historians alike debate what actually transpired beside a certain Montana river which witnessed so much bloodshed and so little clarity. Was it a horrible massacre, or a great victory? As a multi-racial and multi-ethnic nation, we have failed to reach any consensus. We cannot even agree if that meandering river should be called the Greasy Grass or the little Bighorn