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19th Century America

The 19th was the United States' first full century as a nation. It was full of birth pangs, moments of triumph, and things that made everyone shake their head and wonder what was going on. One of the most interesting of the latter bits was when British ex-pat Joshua Norton crowned himself Emperor of the United States, "reigning" from San Francisco.

Most people remember the 19th century for the Civil War. While it certainly was a significant event, one of the most important events in American history even, there were a number of surrounding factors that were just as important, and without which the War Between the States would never have developed.

Arguably the most significant of these was Western Expansion. The idea that Americans were fulfilling some kind of national destiny by claiming the Western part of the continent was called Manifest Destiny, and its origins can be found in the writings of some of the most prominent Founding Fathers, like Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. Their dedication to the Enlightenment ideal of human progress (that mankind controlled its own destiny, and that that destiny was to move ever forward) translated into a need to expand their country as far as possible.

As with anything else, God used that humanist doctrine to advance His own truth. While politicians and opportunists went West to obtain land, gold, and freedom, Christian missionaries went to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. People like Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and Jason Lee braved the Oregon Trail simply to share their faith with the Native Americans in the Western Territories; the Whitmans even gave their lives, becoming the Pacific Northwest's most famous martyrs.

Meanwhile, back in the East the bigwigs were conspiring to breach the 3,000 mile gap between the East and West coasts with a recently improved invention: the steam engine train. The First Transcontinental Railroad wasn't completed till 1869 (four years after the Civil War had ended), but it's origins reach back to the 1840s when it was first envisioned by Asa Whitney.

In fact, the transcontinental railroad was a significant element of Abraham Lincoln's presidential campaign and administration. This was the problem: the North wanted the Trans to go through their territory because they had so much industrial product to move, while the South wanted it to run through the bottom half of the States so they could transport cotton, sorghum, and other agricultural goods.

The reality was a bit of a compromise, but the violent debates that stirred Congress had no small part in fomenting the division that would ultimately erupt in full-blown war. Slavery was the main issue, but it affected so many other factors that to reduce the origins of the Civil War to slavery alone is a bit revisionist and narrow-sighted.

For a lot of the 19th century, it seemed that the United States led a charmed existence, that Progress was a sure thing and there was nothing really to fear, certainly no problem that couldn't be overcome. The last two decades were exceedingly prosperous, leading to a sense of smug optimism that only the terror of World War I, the moral chaos of the Jazz Age, and the sudden insecurity of the Great Depression could effectively end.

Not everyone was man-centered and materialistic, however. The 19th century saw a surge in evangelism unlike anything the fledgling nation had seen, so pervasive and productive that it was called the Second Great Awakening. Unfortunately, a lot of doctrinal dilution came with the new preaching, but there were plenty of genuine conversions, and much good came of them.

It's difficult to reduce a one hundred year span to a few paragraphs, and there are certainly things we could have mentioned. Comprehensive treatments aren't always the best way to study history, though; each era has its own spirit and attitudes (its own zeitgeist, if you want to get all technical and German) that best represent it. We hope you'll bear that in mind in your study of the 19th century in America, and indeed throughout your study of history here and around the globe.

Topics of Interest from the 19th Century:

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he is a husband and father, teaches adult Sunday school in his Presbyterian congregation, and likes weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur.Read more of his reviews here.
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Aquila's Drinking Gourd
by Pamela Dell
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for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
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Bad River Boys
by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, illustrated by Bill Farnsworth
from Holiday House
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in Lewis & Clark Expedition (1801-1803) (Location: HISA-19L&C)
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Blizzard!
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2001 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
BOX: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom
by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Michele Wood
from Candlewick Press
for 4th-6th grade
2021 Newbery Honor Book
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$17.99
Cassie's Journey
by Brett Harvey; illustrated by Deborah Kogan Ray
from Holiday House
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Cowboy Small
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Enemies of Slavery
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First Step
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Follow the Drinking Gourd
by Jeanette Winter
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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Going West
by Jean Van Leeuwen, illustrated by Thomas Allen
from Dial Books for Young Readers
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Henry's Freedom Box
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from Scholastic Press
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$18.99
Henry's Freedom Box
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from Scholastic Press
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2008 Caldecott Honor Book
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Hitty: Her First Hundred Years
by Rachel Field, illustrated by Dorothy P. Lathrop
1969 printing from Macmillan
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1930 Newbery Medal Winner
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Homespun Sarah
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How Sweet the Sound
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John Brown: One Man Against Slavery
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from Rizzoli International Publications
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Last Princess
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Picture Book Biographies for Kindergarten-3rd grade
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Mama Went to Jail for the Vote
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Many Thousand Gone
by Virginia Hamilton
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
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by Cheryl Harness
from Simon and Schuster
Biography for 2nd-5th grade
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Moses
by Carole Boston Weatherford
1st edition from Hyperion/Madison Press
for Preschool-3rd grade
2007 Caldecott Honor Book
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$18.99 $9.50 (1 in stock)
Moving the Millers’ Minnie Moore Mine Mansion
by Dave Eggers, illustrated by Julia Sarda
from Candlewick Press
for Preschool-2nd grade
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$19.99
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by Elizabeth Mann
from Mikaya Press
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
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by David Adler
from Holiday House
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by David A. Adler
1st edition from Holiday House
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by Steven Kroll, illustrated by Dan Andreasen
from Scholastic Press
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by William Anderson, illustrated by Dan Andreasen
from HarperCollins
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
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by Bobbie Kalman & Amanda Bishop
from Crabtree Publishing
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by Gary D. Schmidt, Illustrated by Daniel Minter
from Roaring Brook Press
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in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$18.99
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Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
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by Zachary Kent
from Children's Press
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by Eugenia Burney
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Story of Harriet Beecher Stowe
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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$5.00 (2 in stock)
Story of John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Zachary Kent
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
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by Norman Richards, illustrated by Tom Dunnington
from Children's Press
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
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by Norman Richards
from Children's Press
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
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Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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by Zachary Kent, illustrated by David J. Catrow III
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
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Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
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Cornerstones of Freedom
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by Andrew Santella
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Story of the Conestoga Wagon
by Kenneth Richards
from Children's Press
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in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
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Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
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Cornerstones of Freedom
by Kenneth Richards
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Story of the Gettysburg Address
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Kenneth Richards
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Gettysburg Address
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Kenneth Richards & Tom Dunnington
from Children's Press
for 3rd-6th grade
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$5.00 (2 in stock)
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Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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$5.00 (2 in stock)
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Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Stein Conrad
from Children's Press
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Cornerstones of Freedom
by Charnan Simon
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$5.00 (2 in stock)
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Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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Story of the Homestead Act
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
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by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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Story of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Story of the Lincoln Memorial
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Natalie Miller
from Unknown Publisher
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Story of the Lincoln Memorial
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Natalie Miller
from Children's Press
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$5.00 (2 in stock)
Story of the Little Bighorn
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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Story of the Lone Star Republic
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
Story of The Monitor and the Merrimac
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Story of the New England Whalers
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Story of the Oregon Trail
Cornerstones of Freedom series
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Story of the Panama Canal
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Story of the Pony Express
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Story of the Pullman Strike
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Story of the Rough Riders
Cornerstones of Freedom
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Story of the Star-Spangled Banner
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Natalie Miller
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$5.00 (2 in stock)
Story of the Star-Spangled Banner
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Natalie Miller
from Children's Press
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$4.00 (3 in stock)
Story of the Underground Railroad
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Story of Women Who Shaped the West
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Mary Virginia Fox
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Tales of the American West
by Neil & Ting Morris, illustrated by Anna Clarke
from Derrydale Books
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
They Were Strong and Good
by Robert Lawson
from Viking Press
for 1st-3rd grade
1941 Caldecott Medal winner
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$20.99 $11.00 (1 in stock)
They're Off!
by Cheryl Harness
from Simon and Schuster
Historical Non-Fiction for 2nd-5th grade
in Pony Express (1860-1861) (Location: HISA-19PEX)
Three Names
by Patricia MacLachlan, illustrated by Alexander Pertzoff
from HarperCollins
for 2nd-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Touched By Fire
by William C. Davis, ed.
from Black Dog & Leventhal
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Unfading Beauty
by Tracy M. Leininger
from His Seasons
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Where the Buffaloes Begin
by Olaf Baker
from Dover Publications
for Preschool-2nd grade
1982 Caldecott Honor Book
in Native American History (Location: HISA-19NAT)
$13.56
Why Cowboys Sing, In Texas
by LeGrand Henderson
from Abingdon Press
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Wide Open Spaces
by Jack Terry
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