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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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Abe Lincoln
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Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance
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Abe Lincoln Goes to Washington
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Abe Lincoln Grows Up
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Abraham Lincoln
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Abraham Lincoln
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Abraham Lincoln & Frederick Douglass
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$21.95
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Historical Non-fiction for 7th-10th grade
1945 Newbery Honor Book
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Abraham Lincoln: Great Speeches
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Political Philosophy for 10th-Adult
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$18.00 (1 in stock)
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by Elizabeth MacLeod
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Perspectives on History Series
by Phyllis Raybin Emert
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America's Robert E. Lee
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American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House
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American Ulysses
by Ronald C. White
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Amistad - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
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from Dover Publications
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$3.95
Andrew Jackson: Soldier and Statesman
by Ralph K. Andrist
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Annie Oakley: Young Marksman
Childhood of Famous Americans
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$7.99
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by Ulysses S. Grant
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by Josiah Henson
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Bad Guys
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Bad News for Outlaws
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$19.99
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Sons of Liberty Series
by William Thayer
from A Beka Books
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$9.50 (1 in stock)
Black Courage
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Booker T. Washington
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BOX: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom
by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Michele Wood
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2021 Newbery Honor Book
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$17.99
Buffalo Bill
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Buffalo Bill
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Buffalo Bill and the Wild West
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Buffalo Bill's Great Wild West Show
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by Walter Havighurst, illustrated by John C. Wonsetler
from Random House
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Buffalo Bill's Life Story
by William F. Cody, Illustrated by N.C. Wyeth
1966 printing from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
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Buffalo Bill: Frontier Daredevil
Childhood of Famous Americans
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Bully for You, Teddy Roosevelt!
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Cabin Boy to Advent Crusader
by Virgil Robinson, illustrated by Harry Baerg
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Calamity Jane
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Call of Duty
Leaders in Action Series
by Steve Wilkins
from Cumberland House
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Camels West
by James Ralph Johnson
from David McKay Company
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Carry a Big Stick
Leaders in Action Series
by George Grant
from Cumberland House
Biography for 9th-Adult
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Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
by Jean Lee Latham
from Houghton Mifflin
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1956 Newbery Medal winner
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$9.99
Cartier Sails the St. Lawrence
by Esther Averill, illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky
from Harper & Brothers
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Carver: A Life in Poems
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2002 Newbery Honor Book, Coretta Scott King Honor Award
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$16.95
Chief Joseph of the Nez Perces
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from Julian Messner
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Clara Barton
Heroes of History
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$11.99
Clara Barton
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Clara Barton: Civil War Nurse
Historical American Biographies
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Co. Aytch
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Courage to Run
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Second Printing 1975 from Dillon Press
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Danger in the Desert
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Daniel Boone
by Daniel Boone
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Daniel Boone
Adventures in Frontier America
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from Troll Publishing
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Daniel Boone, Wilderness Scout
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Daniel Boone, Wilderness Scout
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from Garden City Books
Biography for 4th-7th grade
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Daniel Boone: The Opening of the Wilderness
Landmark #21
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from Random House
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David Crockett: His Life and Adventures
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$8.99
David Farragut
The History of the Civil War
by Russell Shorto
from Stan Clark Military Books
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Davy Crockett
by David Crockett
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Biography for 4th-8th grade
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Davy Crockett
Junior Deluxe Editions
by Constance Rourke, illustrated by Walter Seaton
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1935 Newbery Honor Book
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Davy Crockett
Heroes of History
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from Emerald Books
Biography for 4th-7th grade
in Heroes of History (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Davy Crockett
Landmark #57
by Stewart H. Holbrook
from Random House
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Davy Crockett
by George Edward Stanley
from Sterling Publishing Co.
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Davy Crockett: Young Rifleman
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Aileen Wells Parks
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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$7.99
Death Valley Scotty
from Trans-Anglo Press
for Adult
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$16.00 (1 in stock)
Did You Invent The Phone All Alone, Alexander Graham Bell?
by Gilda Berger, Melvin Berger
from Scholastic Inc.
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$4.99
Dolly Madison
Landmark #47
by Jane Mayer
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
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Drawing America: Sacajawea
Drawing America
by Elaine Raphael & Don Bolognese
from Scholastic Inc.
Biography for 1st-3rd grade
in Lewis & Clark (Location: HISA-19L&C)
Eagle and the Fort
by Dorothy Morrison
from Oregon Historical Society Press
Biography for 5th-8th grade
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Early Days of a Cowboy on the Pecos
by James F. Hinkle
from Unknown Publisher
for 7th-12th grade
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Electrical Wizard
by Elizabeth Rusch, illustrated by Oliver Dominguez
from Candlewick Press
for 3rd-6th grade
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Eli Whitney: Great Inventor
by Jean Lee Latham
from Garrard Publishing Company
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Emancipation Proclomation
by Tonya Bolden
from Abrams Books for Young Readers
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in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Embattled Rebel
by James M. McPherson
from Penguin Press
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Enemies of Slavery
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for Kindergarten-3rd grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Explorers, Missionaries, and Trappers
by Kieran Doherty
from Oliver-Nelson Books
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in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Eyewitnesses at the Battle of Franklin
by David R. Logsdon
4th edition
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt
by T.J. Stiles
from Vintage Books
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Forever Free
by Dorothy Sterling, illustrated by Ernest Crichlow
from Doubleday & Company
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in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
Forty-Acre Swindle
TrailBlazer Books
by Dave & Neta Jackson
from Bethany House
for 3rd-7th grade
in Trailblazer Books (Location: SER-TRAIL)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Forty-Acre Swindle
TrailBlazer Books
by Dave & Neta Jackson
from Castle Rock Creative
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$8.99
Forward March to Freedom
by Barbara Kay Greenleaf
from Grosset & Dunlap
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$14.00 (1 in stock)
Francis Scott Key
Sowers Series
by David Collins
from Mott Media
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$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Frederick Douglass: The Right to Dignity
from Emerald Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Heroes of History (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Freedom Train
by Dorothy Sterling
from Scholastic Inc.
Biography for 4th-8th grade
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