The "Peculiar Children" of the Nation: American Civil Religion at Antebellum West Point
This thesis examines the history of antebellum West Point, tracing connections between the religious atmosphere of the Academy and the political ideology which it inculcated into cadets. A central claim of this essay is that the Revival of 1826 cemented a distinctly religious rhetoric as the operati...
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| Format: | Others |
| Language: | English English |
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Florida State University
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| Online Access: | http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-4876 |
| Summary: | This thesis examines the history of antebellum West Point, tracing connections between the religious atmosphere of the Academy and the political ideology which it inculcated into cadets. A central claim of this essay is that the Revival of 1826 cemented a distinctly religious rhetoric as the operating ideology of West Point. This ideology held that the defense and maintenance of the sovereignty of the United States was to be cadets' primary objective. Cadets were taught that defending American sovereignty constituted a divine mandate incumbent upon them as students of West Point. Finally, a key goal of this essay has been to ground "civil religion" in sources particular to this essay in the hope of reworking the concept for broader use in American religious history. === A Thesis submitted to the Department of Religion in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. === Fall Semester, 2011. === August 31, 2011. === Charles P. McIlvaine, Civil Religion, Civil War, Revival, Sylvanus Thayer, West Point === Includes bibliographical references. === Amanda Porterfield, Professor Directing Thesis; John Corrigan, Committee Member; Amy Koehlinger, Committee Member. |
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