“A Fool For His Client:” Religion, Law, and Insanity in Nineteenth-Century America

Honors College Thesis

Public Deposited

Citeable URL: https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/honors_college_theses/wm117w78v

Descriptions

Attribute Name	Values
Creator	Reck, Logan A.
Abstract	When Charles Guiteau killed U.S. President James Garfield, he claimed that God had ordered him to do so. During his trial, Guiteau’s lawyers plead not guilty by reason of insanity, and the question of Guiteau’s innocence or guilt quickly became a question about the very nature of insanity itself. In late nineteenth-century America, the concept of insanity was the subject of constant academic debate, with early psychiatrists arguing whether it was caused by physical disease, moral weakness, or even radical forms of Christianity. I use the trial of Charles Guiteau as a case study of the evolving conceptualizations of mental illness in the Gilded Age. I also examine the role that the insanity debate played in shaping nineteenth-century American psychiatry, and the implications that it had on the role of the insanity defense in American law. Key Words: Insanity, Moral Insanity, James Garfield, Charles Guiteau, Psychiatry, Law, Religion, Christianity, Gilded Age
License	Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)
Resource Type	Honors College Thesis
Date Issued	2021-05-28
Degree Level	Bachelor's
Degree Name	Honors Bachelor of Science (H.B.S.)
Degree Field	History
Degree Grantor	Oregon State University
Commencement Year	2021
Advisor	Chappell, Marisa
Committee Member	Smith, Stacey Lauer, Rena
Non-Academic Affiliation	Oregon State University. Honors College
Rights Statement	In Copyright
Publisher	Oregon State University
Peer Reviewed	No
Language	English [eng]

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