Date of Award

Spring 5-20-2026

Document Type

Thesis (Master's)

Department or Program

Master of Arts in Liberal Studies

First Advisor

Saul Lelchuk

Second Advisor

Evelyn Lechner

Third Advisor

Eugenie Carabatsos

Abstract

This thesis constitutes the first two parts of a novel titled The Burgeoning and details the lives of those witnessing and living within a celestial nation that begins on the Moon and expands across the Solar System. The Celestial Commonwealth, an offshoot of a future United States, takes after her values, virtues, and vices, and the story explores themes from David Hackett Fischer’s book Fairness and Freedom: A History of Two Open Societies: New Zealand and the United States, as well as Sir Roger Scruton’s The Meaning of Conservatism and Sir Walter Bagehot’s The English Constitution. The themes of nation and legacy, among others, are set in a cosmic context through the observations and participation of two key characters:

Dominic is ten years old when the celestial nation is codified. He watches a world that once belonged to Earth attain a destiny of her own and he harbors a desire to bridge them back together, inspired by his grandfather, Oscar Sullivan, a disgraced academic with powerful insights on the new nation.

Io Spears, born on the Moon the day it was codified, and into a dynasty critical to space development, is sent to Werner Academy, where she must either attain the knowledge and disposition required to inherit a cosmic legacy or be cast out by her mother’s backup, who wants the role as much as she does.

Encompassing all is the macro-character of the nation (Celestia), as Dom, Io, their elders and peers establish orbits in relation to her, with the hope of modeling and modifying her for their benefit.

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