Date Awarded
2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Department
History
Advisor
Paul Mapp
Committee Member
Nicholas Popper
Committee Member
Fabricio Prado
Abstract
Thomas Paine: Public Policymaker for Liberty and Equality Thomas Paine was a prolific writer and thinker of the eighteenth and nineteenth century. His words were read throughout the Atlantic world by people from all walks of life. One of the less covered aspects of his life was his influence on public policies on various states. Paine through his works spread his ideas of equality and liberty by advocating, and writing public policies. From the French Revolution through his death, Paine maintained specific policies he thought would bring about the liberal republic he desired. Encompassed mainly in Agrarian Justice and Rights of Man, Paine goes beyond writing propaganda and writes specific public policies that were adopted by France, the United States, and Uruguay. “Base Poltroon and Cowardly Tale-bearers”: How the Dueling Gentleman Defied the Modern State Beginning in the sixteenth century dueling had entered British peerage as a way of handling private affairs of honor. For the next three centuries dueling was practiced by the elites in both Great Britain and the United States. Dueling goes directly against the modernist state as the group that has a legitimate monopoly on violence. Both countries throughout that time passed laws and ordinances to try to stop dueling. By the mid nineteenth century even though dueling was on the decline the state still rarely upheld dueling laws and prosecuted duelists. Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, the Duke of Wellington, and William Pitt all dueled even while occupying the most powerful offices of their respective countries. Dueling laws failed to uphold the modernist state because those in power were the ones who dueled and used it to maintain their social capital.
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.21220/s2-4rv1-se96
Rights
© The Author
Recommended Citation
Dudeck, Phillip, "Thomas Paine/“Base Poltroon And Cowardly Tale-Bearers”" (2020). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. William & Mary. Paper 1616444468.
http://dx.doi.org/10.21220/s2-4rv1-se96
