Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University History Theses Department of History Spring 5-2013 The Legacy of Luther: National Identity and State-Building in Early Nineteenth-Century Germany Ruth L. Dewhurst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/history_theses Recommended Citation Dewhurst, Ruth L., "The Legacy of Luther: National Identity and State-Building in Early Nineteenth-Century Germany." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2013. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/history_theses/64 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of History at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in History Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. THE LEGACY OF LUTHER: NATIONAL IDENTITY AND STATE-BUILDING IN EARLY NINETEENTH-CENTURY GERMANY by RUTH LITTLE DEWHURST Under the Direction of Joe Perry ABSTRACT Historians have posited a number of theories about nationalism. Using Anthony D. Smith’s historic ethno-symbolic theory, this thesis examines the development of German national identity in the decades following the French Revolution up to the 1848 revolutions and the National Assembly that met in Frankfurt to write a constitution for the German Nation. Martin Luther was an important figure to Germans in the nineteenth century and a number of influential intellectuals drew on his contributions to define themselves as a distinctive people, even though