ABSTRACT WILS, JAMES R. “E Pluribus Unum: Revolutionary Monuments and the Nation in the Early American Republic, 1776-1846” (Under the direction of Dr. Craig Thompson Friend). At the end of the American Revolutionary War, Americans began to erect monuments to the American Revolution, marking a commemorative tradition that had emerged from the collective memory of a shared American past. Historians have often attempted to understand American monuments, including those of the early republic, within a democratic framework, created and consumed by the American people. They have not considered the republican contexts for early national monuments, consequently casting regional differences in monuments as symbolic of the strains of the United States’ fledgling democracy. “E Pluribus Unum: Revolutionary Monuments and the Nation in the Early American Republic, 1776-1848” examines early monuments to the Revolution, addressing the interplay between “official” national monumentalism and more vernacular forms that played out at local and regional levels. I argue that in trying to create a unified, official cultural identity, national leaders employed monuments as rhetorical strategies to stimulate suitable national feeling. Meanwhile, communities drew their own commemorative meanings of the Revolution. In both official and vernacular commemorations, the intentions were to model proper virtue for generations of Americans. Investigating the republican purposes for early national monuments to the American Revolution, rather than the democratic consumption thereof, enables a better understanding of how tensions between national and local, official and vernacular played a role in creating the American tradition of monumental commemoration. Building upon recent public and scholarly interest in the rhetoric of American monuments, this dissertation examines how, between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, the American Revolution manifested in the American commemorative landscape, public monuments, and collective memory. Through personal journals/correspondence, regional newspapers, architectural plans, and government records, I reveal the common threads of republican sentiment among commissioners, producers, and beholders of early American monuments to the Revolution. I further reveal that early national commemorative customs derived from colonial traditions meted out among a regionally and socially diverse population that came to recognize a collective past through disparate commemorative experiences. As official efforts to commemorate the Revolution with monuments fell flat at the end of the eighteenth century, vernacular monuments took up the mantle of honoring the services and sacrifices in defense of liberty, erecting Neoclassical monuments to announce the new American republic’s continuity with ancient republics. When George Washington died in 1799, citizens relied on contemporary understandings of monumental forms to commemorate Washington with collectibles and personal relics, as well as early tourism to sites associated with Washington and the Revolution. Thus, a national commemorative tradition emerged, and after the War of 1812, as the republic enjoyed a new wave of nationalistic zeal, grand monuments reappeared to commemorate the Revolution, while local monuments gradually moved away from Neoclassical sculpture toward austere obelisks that honored the democratic American “Everyman” in place of the traditional, elite “Great Man.” The expansion of political democracy in the United States, though, was hardly an extension of social equality, and public monuments in the 1830s and 1840s espoused an official narrative of white nativism and indigenous savagery that underscored antebellum Westward expansion, hardening racial categorizations as debates over slavery flared, as the early American republic drew to a close. © Copyright 2021 by James R. Wils All Rights Reserved E Pluribus Unum: Revolutionary Monuments and the Nation in the Early American Republic, 1776-1846 by James R. Wils A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Public History Raleigh, North Carolina 2021 APPROVED BY: _______________________________ _______________________________ Dr. Craig Thompson Friend Dr. David Zonderman Committee Chair _______________________________ _______________________________ Dr. Megan Cherry Dr. Timothy Stinson DEDICATION For my Daughters. ii BIOGRAPHY Born just half a mile from George Washington’s Continental Army Headquarters in Newburgh, NY, James R. Wils has long nurtured an interest in the national origins of the United States. It was in North Carolina, however, where he spent most of his life, that James shaped his interests into an educational career. After serving some years in the Marines and exploring various civilian career paths, he earned a Bachelor of Science in Public History and a Master of Arts in History, both from East Carolina University in Greenville, NC, before enrolling in North Carolina State University’s doctoral program in Public History. Since moving to Raleigh, James has had the opportunity not only to work with gifted scholars in the Department of History at NC State, but also to gain valuable experience as a history educator. He has taught as a graduate instructor at NC State, as an adjunct lecturer both at NC State and at Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh, and currently as a full-time History faculty member at Wake Tech. In his classes, James often turns to topics of public history, such as monuments and museums, to engage his students in understanding and navigating the constant interplay between history and memory. James shares his life adventure with his wife and best friend, Stephanie. Together they raise twin daughters—Reagan and Kinley—who have somehow grown into remarkable young women while James looked away for only a moment… iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS C. S. Lewis once wrote, “It is easy to acknowledge, but almost impossible to remember for long, that we are mirrors whose brightness, if we are bright, is wholly derived from the sun that shines upon us.” This dissertation represents the culmination of years of interest, study, and interpretation, polished to a silvery luster with the grit of determination. If its reflection, and my own, are bright, then it is to the sunlight that I owe my gratitude. That light emanates from my fellow travelers on this Earth, the people without whom I would have remained in the dark. It is to them, with great honor and satisfaction, that I now offer my thanks. Without the love and support of an amazing family, I would have been unable to stay long on this journey, to say nothing of completing it. To that end, I express my everlasting gratitude to my incredible and inimitable partner in this adventure of life, my beautiful wife, Stephanie Clarice Wils. She has been behind me every step of the way, pushing me one step closer every time I wanted to lay down and be done with it. Moreover, she has done so while also taking the major reins with our twin girls, Kinley Rebecca and Reagan Elisabeth, now nearing eleven years old. I give them thanks, too, for without their unconditional love and the plentiful hugs and kisses on my hardest days, I would be a lesser version of myself. I deeply thank my wife and children for understanding the sacrifice of time and not resenting me for the time I could not spend with them. I hope they will come to see my work as an inspiration to go the distance, no matter what. I thank my parents, Michael and Leilani, for their historical curiosity, which has obviously rubbed off on me. Their tireless encouragement of my academic pursuits has been invaluable to me since I started my first undergraduate semester. Their pride in me, their eldest child, has been a much-needed booster. I likewise thank my sisters, Sarah and Amanda, for their iv enthusiasm and encouragement along the way. I especially want to thank my brother, David, himself a history educator and public-school administrator. I will forever be indebted to him and to my lovely sister-in-law, Amanda, for their incredible generosity when I was out of hope. I express my sincerest appreciation to my advisory committee members. My committee chair, Dr. Craig Friend, has proven a tireless advocate of my work while guiding me through an often-difficult process of stretching my capacity for intellectual thought to its limits. He helped me connect random, unorganized thoughts into intersectional networks of ideas, all while maintaining a sense of calm and stability amid a world on fire. I simply could not have asked for a better mentor or friend throughout these last several years. Dr. David Zonderman provided sage advice on a number of fronts, from dissertation strategies to time management tips, all while running a tight ship as the chair of NC State’s Department of History through some of the most trying times in recent memory. Dr. Megan Cherry kept me grounded in scholarship related to my topic, helping to form an analytical framework of eighteenth-century British and colonial American cultures from which I drew my interpretation of those commemorative traditions. Dr. Timothy Stinson offered ideas for new perspectives regarding monumental forms and the language and literature of commemoration. The ideas and influences of these four gifted scholars abound throughout the dissertation, and I humbly thank each of them for their guidance. I offer thanks to several scholars outside my advisory committee who have left their impressions upon my life and work. Dr. Rich Slatta gave me my first lessons in teaching history to others and I carry his wisdom with me in my work today. Dr. Julia Rudolph lent a sympathetic ear when I needed to be heard and, in her time as Director of Graduate Programs, she facilitated necessary procedures for me without hesitation and with understanding. Dr. Tammy Gordon, as Director of Public History, likewise helped me when I was in need of it, always with a smile and v kind word. Dr. Matthew Booker, with whom I was fortunate to work as a teaching/grading assistant, opened my eyes to new historical avenues I had not before considered.