Abstract
The trajectory of my life changed in the most mundane of ways. It was on the first day of classes during my junior year in college. While seated at a desk in a classroom in the Armory at the University of Illinois, I awaited eagerly for what would be my first upper-division history course: Professor Robert McColley’s course on Early National America, which covered the period roughly from the 1780s to the 1820s. After introducing the class, the professor handed out a list of topics and assigned one of them to each of us. My topic was William Blount (1749-1800). Who was William Blount, I wondered. The assignment was to write a research paper that would be due at the end of the semester.
Highlights
The trajectory of my life changed in the most mundane of ways
I delved into the topic of William Blount
The very newness of the experiment in republican government during the 1790s and the expanse of the American Republic made for nebulous boundaries, loyalties, and principles
Summary
The trajectory of my life changed in the most mundane of ways. It was on the first day of classes during my junior year in college. I felt like Abraham Lincoln did when he responded on April 29, 1860, to Lyman Trumbull’s inquiries regarding his presidential ambitions, “The taste is in my mouth a little.” As Lincoln’s experience in the 1858 Illinois Senate race affected his future ambitions, so did this undergraduate research experience affect my own. When it came time for me to do a senior honors thesis, I chose Professor McColley to be my advisor.
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