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Dissertation Information for Faye Lind Jensen

NAME:
- Faye Lind Jensen

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- Emory University (USA) (1991)

ADVISORS:
- Dan T. Carter

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- None

MPACT Status: Incomplete - Inspected

Title: Power and progress in the urban South: Columbus, Georgia, 1850-1885

Abstract: The importance of studies of Southern urban areas has been recognized by historians for decades. Though the development of towns and cities was slower in the South, urban areas were central to the economy and culture of the region. Analyses of towns--both small and large--provides new insights into the questions concerning the presence of an industrial/business class in the Old and New South as well as their relative political and economic power.

Columbus, Georgia, is situated on the banks of the Chattahoochee River along the Georgia-Alabama border. Following rapid urbanization, Columbus established itself as the dominant industrial and commercial center in western Georgia and eastern Alabama. During the Civil War, the town, swelling with refugees and wounded soldiers, became a major arsenal for the Confederacy. Columbus' businessmen profited from contract work for the Confederate Army, but prosperity proved to be short-lived when Wilson's Raiders burned every industry in town in the spring of 1865.

Following the war, Columbus reeled with social and economic strife and disorder. Racism was violent in the town and, as the South's commerce shifted further from river trade to rail lines, Columbus' river trade suffered. Restricted by the depression of the 1870s, town leaders poured their assets into textiles, unable to obtain a major rail connection or to attract outside capital. Although Columbus remained a major textile center, it never regained the commercial importance of its antebellum years.

This dissertation looks at the men who wielded economic power in Columbus between 1850 and 1885. In an effort to discern if there was indeed a powerful business class in the rural South, I have analyzed who the economic leaders of Columbus were and where they came from. In addition to the continuity question, I have endeavored to discover, through the actions of economic notables, the extent of their support for policies and attitudes which led to the Civil War and their response to it. I have also described the efforts made (and not made) by this group to promote their own interests and the interests of their town.

MPACT Scores for Faye Lind Jensen

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-06-01 11:58:57

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Students under Faye Lind Jensen

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None