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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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by Scott O'Dell
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1965 Newbery Honor Book
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Across Five Aprils
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1965 Newbery Honor Book
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Land of the Free Series
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Land of the Free Series
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Butter in the Well: Historical Diary 1868-1888
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Captain Bayley's Heir
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Captain Bayley's Heir
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Captain, My Captain
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Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
by Jean Lee Latham
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 5th-9th grade
1956 Newbery Medal winner
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Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
by Jean Lee Latham, illustrated by John O'Hara Cosgrave II
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 5th-9th grade
1956 Newbery Medal winner
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$20.00 (1 in stock)
Chariot in the Sky
Land of the Free Series
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Cleared for Action!
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Climb a Lofty Ladder
by Marion & Walter Havighurst, illustrated by Jill Elgin
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Dark Venture
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Fear in the Forest
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Fear in the Forest
by Cateau de Leeuw
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Fifer of San Jacinto
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First Four Years
Little House Series #9
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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First Four Years
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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First Four Years (Pictorial Cover)
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First Four Years - Audio CD
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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Girl in Blue
by Ann Rinaldi
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$2.50 (1 in stock)
Great Quest
by Charles Boardman Hawes
from CreateSpace
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1922 Newbery Honor Book
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$9.95
In the Hands of the Cave Dwellers
by G. A. Henty
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In the Hands of the Cave Dwellers
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In the Heart of the Rockies
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Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
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In the Heart of the Rockies
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Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
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Iron Scouts of the Confederacy
by Lee McGiffin
2nd edition from Christian Liberty Press
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
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January's Sparrow
by Patricia Polacco
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Kathleen: A Yankee Girl at Gettysburg
by Alice Turner Curtis
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Lady of Arlington
by Harnett T. Kane
from Doubleday & Company
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Letter Writer
by Ann Rinaldi
Reprint from HMH Books for Young Readers
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Little House - Full Color Trade Paper Set
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
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$88.71
Little House - Softcover Boxed Set
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
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$79.91
Little Town on the Prairie
Little House Series #7
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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1942 Newbery Honor Book
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$9.99
Little Town on the Prairie
Little House Series #7
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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1942 Newbery Honor Book
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$19.99
Little Town on the Prairie
Little House Series #7
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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1942 Newbery Honor Book
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Little Town on the Prairie
Little House Series #7
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1942 Newbery Honor Book
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Little House Series #7
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1942 Newbery Honor Book
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Little Town on the Prairie - Audio CD
Little House Series #7
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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1942 Newbery Honor Book
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Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Anna Marie Magagna
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Little Women
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Little Women
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Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy
by Gary D. Schmidt
from Clarion Books
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2005 Newbery Honor Book
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Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy
by Gary D. Schmidt
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2005 Newbery Honor Book
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Long Winter
Little House Series #6
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
1941 Newbery Honor Book
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$9.99
Long Winter
Little House Series #6
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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1941 Newbery Honor Book
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Long Winter
by Laura Ingalls Wilder, illustrated by Garth Williams
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Long Winter (Pictorial Cover)
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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Major Impossible
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #9
by Nathan Hale
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My Name Is Not Angelica
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Oak's Long Shadow
by Olive W. Burt, illustrated by Frederick T. Chapman
1st edition from John C. Winston
Historical fiction for 6th-10th grade
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On to Oregon!
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Out on the Pampas
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Out on the Pampas
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Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
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Out on the Pampas
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Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
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Patty Reed's Doll
by Rachel K. Laurgaard
from Tomato Enterprises
Historical fiction for 5th-8th grade
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Perilous Road
by William O. Steele
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Railroad to Freedom
by Hildegarde H. Swift, illustrated by James Daugherty
1960 printing from Harcourt, Brace & World
for 5th-8th grade
1933 Newbery Honor Book
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Rainbow's Gold
by Vera Martin Lynch
from William W. Lynch
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$5.50 (1 in stock)
Red Badge of Courage
by Stephen Crane
from Bantam Books
Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.95
Red Badge of Courage
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Stephen Crane
from Reader's Digest
for 7th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Red Badge of Courage
Puffin Classics
by Stephen Crane
from Puffin Books
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in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF)
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Red Badge of Courage
Portland House Illustrated Classics
by Stephen Crane, illustrated by Jose Miralles
from Portland House
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Red Badge of Courage
by Stephen Crane
from Golden Press
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in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Red Badge of Courage
Macmillan Classics
by Stephen Crane, illustrated by Herschel Levit
from Macmillan
for 7th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Red Badge of Courage
by Stephen Crane & Ambrose Bierce
from SeaWolf Press
Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
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$7.45
Red Badge of Courage
by Stephen Crane
from Golden Press
for 6th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Red Badge of Courage
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Stephen Crane
from Reader's Digest
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in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Redskin and Cowboy
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
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Redskin and Cowboy
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
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Remember the Alamo!
Adventures in History Series
by Amelia E. Barr
from A Beka Books
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in A Beka Book Report books (Location: REA-ABK)
Riders of the Pony Express
North Star Books #6
by Ralph Moody
from Houghton Mifflin
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Rush Revere and the Star-Spangled Banner
by Rush Limbaugh with Kathryn Adams Limbaugh
from Threshold Editions
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Seaman
by Gail Karwoski & James Watling
from Peachtree Publishers, Ltd.
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
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$9.99 $6.00 (2 in stock)
Seaman's Journal
by Patricia Reeder Eubank
from Ideals Children's Books
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Lewis & Clark Expedition (1801-1803) (Location: HISA-19L&C)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Seek the Dark Gold
Land of the Free series
by Jo Evalin Lundy, illustrated by Edward Shenton
1st edition from John C. Winston
Historical fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Short Stories of G. A. Henty Volume One
by G. A. Henty
from Preston Speed
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
Slave Dancer
by Paula Fox
from Laurel-Leaf Books
Historical Fiction for 6th-8th grade
1974 Newbery Medal winner
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$6.50 $3.00 (1 in stock)
Slave Dancer
by Paula Fox
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
1974 Newbery Medal winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$6.99
Slave Dancer
by Paula Fox
from Simon and Schuster
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
1974 Newbery Medal winner
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$8.00 (2 in stock)
Slave Dancer
by Paula Fox
from Simon and Schuster
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
1974 Newbery Medal winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Slave Dancer
by Paula Fox
from Bradbury Press
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
1974 Newbery Medal winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Slave Dancer
by Paula Fox, illustrated by Eros Keith
from Bradbury Press
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
1974 Newbery Medal winner
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Slopes of War
by N. A. Perez
from Houghton Mifflin
Historical Fiction for 6th-9th grade
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$11.99
Staircase
by Ann Rinaldi
from Harcourt
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
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$6.99
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