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Benevolent Republicans: philanthropy and identity in the early United States
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Michel, Laura R.. Benevolent Republicans: philanthropy and identity in the early United States. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-hzjm-gj52

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TitleBenevolent Republicans: philanthropy and identity in the early United States
NameMichel, Laura R. (author); Townsend, Camilla (chair); Koven, Seth (member); Delbourgo, James (member); Rockman, Seth (member); Rutgers University; School of Graduate Studies
Date Created2021
Other Date2021-10 (degree)
SubjectAmerican history, Benevolence, Early Republic, Philanthropy, United States
Extent1 online resource (ix, 250 pages)
DescriptionThis dissertation considers the role of philanthropy in the construction of American identity in the years and decades following independence from Britain. A multifaceted project that necessarily went beyond the drafting of new governing documents, the achievements of republican benevolence came to validate the success of the new nation at home and abroad. Utilizing annual reports, published speeches, newspaper accounts, minute books, and private correspondence, the emergence of the penitentiary or the growing number of free schools take on added meaning as they reveal the complexities and contingencies of social status, power, identity, and belonging in the early United States. With such an approach, this project adds to existing scholarship on the function of benevolence as a tool of social control, facilitator of cosmopolitan relations, or means of alleviating genuine suffering. By recognizing that these need not be mutually exclusive outcomes, the multiple functions of philanthropy come to the fore. With this also comes to the ability to consider a diverse array of those who claimed – or attempted to claim – the character of “benevolent republican.” For those who did not enjoy the privilege of being an elite white Christian, philanthropy and its connection to the construction of American identity provided a platform from which to make claims about the new nation and their place in it. Even as the voices of African Americans, Jewish Americans, and the poor remained largely sidelined, benevolence allowed some to speak from the margins and, even in a small way, shape the final product. Through the framework of benevolent republicanism and its complex, at times seemingly contradictory, and multi-focal operation, this project incorporates the multitude of voices and priorities that formed the early American republic.
NotePh.D.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Genretheses
Persistent URLhttps://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-hzjm-gj52
LanguageEnglish
CollectionSchool of Graduate Studies Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.
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