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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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Abraham Lincoln's World
by Genevieve Foster, expanded by Joanna Foster
from Beautiful Feet Books
Historical Non-fiction for 7th-10th grade
1945 Newbery Honor Book
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$21.95
Adventures of Davy Crockett
by David Crockett, illustrated by John W. Thomason
from Charles Scribner's Sons
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$18.00 (1 in stock)
Battle from the Start
by Brian Steel Wills
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Biography of James A. Garfield
Sons of Liberty Series
by William Thayer
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Buffalo Bill
by Helen Cody Wetmore
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 6th-9th grade
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Call of Duty
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Carry a Big Stick
Leaders in Action Series
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Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
by Jean Lee Latham
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 5th-9th grade
1956 Newbery Medal winner
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.99
Carver: A Life in Poems
by Marilyn Nelson
from Boyds Mill Press
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2002 Newbery Honor Book, Coretta Scott King Honor Award
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$16.95
Co. Aytch
by Sam Watkins
from Touchstone
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Early Days of a Cowboy on the Pecos
by James F. Hinkle
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Emancipation Proclomation
by Tonya Bolden
from Abrams Books for Young Readers
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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
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Gladys Aylward: The Little Woman
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Harriet Beecher Stowe
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Harriet Tubman: Moses of Her People
from Dover Publications
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$7.95
Helen Keller: The Story of My Life
Signet Classics
by Helen Keller
Reprint from Signet Classics
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$5.95
Helen Keller: The Story of My Life
by Helen Keller
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Autobiography for 7th-10th grade
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Hero Tales
by Theodore Roosevelt & Henry Cabot Lodge
from Cumberland House
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
History of US Book 7
History of US Book 7
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
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$15.95 $11.00 (2 in stock)
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
by Harriet Jacobs
from Dover Publications
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$5.00 $3.00 (1 in stock)
James Fenimore Cooper
by Donald A. Ringe
from Twayne Publishers
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Jason Lee
Sowers Series
by Charles Ludwig
from Mott Media
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Jessie Benton Fremont
by Marguerite Higgins
from Beautiful Feet Books
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$13.95
John Brown Russwurm
by Mary Sagarin, Introduction by Ernest Kaiser
1st edition from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
John James Audubon: Painting America's Wildlife
by Janet Stevenson, illustrated by Robert Boehmer
from Encyclopedia Britannica
for 7th-10th grade
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
John Paul Jones
Sterling Point Books
by Armstrong Sperry
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in War of 1812 (Location: HISA-19WET)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Journals of Lewis & Clark
Signet Classics
by John Bakeless, editor
from Signet Classics
Primary Source Documents for 9th-Adult
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$8.95
Lady of Arlington
by Harnett T. Kane
from Doubleday & Company
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in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Biography
by William Anderson
from HarperTrophy
for 4th-10th grade
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$9.99
Laura Ingalls Wilder: Pioneer Girl
by Laura Ingalls Wilder, edited by Pamela Smith Hill
from South Dakota State Historical Society Press
for 7th-Adult
in Little House Materials (Location: LIR-LHM)
$39.99
Lewis and Clark Expedition - 3-volume Set
by Meriwether Lewis
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
Primary Source Documents for 9th-Adult
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$32.00 (1 in stock)
Life of General Stonewall Jackson
by Mary Williamson
from Christian Liberty Press
Biography for 7th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$11.75 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Life of J.E.B. Stuart
by Mary Williamson
2nd edition from Christian Liberty Press
Biography for 7th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$11.75
Life on the Mississippi
Signet Classics
by Mark Twain
from Signet Classics
Autobiography for 9th-Adult
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$4.95
Lincoln: A Photobiography
by Russell Freedman
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 5th-9th grade
1988 Newbery Medal winner
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$12.99 $7.50 (5 in stock)
Mathew Brady
by James D. Horan
from Bonanza Books
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Mornings on Horseback
by David McCullough
1st edition from Simon & Schuster Macmillan
for 9th-Adult
National; Book Award
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$20.00
Mountain Men and Fur Traders of the Far West
by LeRoy R. Hafen & Harvey L. Carter
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 9th-Adult
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Mr. Lincoln Speaks at Gettysburg
by Mary Kay Phelan
from W. W. Norton and Co.
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Narrative of the Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee
by David Crockett
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
by Frederick Douglass, edited and introduction by David W. Blight
from Bedford Press
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
On Slavery and the Civil War
Dover Thrift Editions
by Frederick Douglass
from Dover Publications
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in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$2.00
Oregon Trail
by Francis Parkman, Jr., illustrated by Maynard Dixon
from Heritage Press
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Oregon Trail
Famous Books for Young Americans
by Francis Parkman
from A. L. Burt Company
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
Our Mountain Hermitage
by Anne Roller Issler
from Stanford University Press
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Outrageous Women of the American Frontier
Outrageous Women
1st edition from Jossey-Bass
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Princess Ka'iulani
by Sharon Linnea
from Eerdmans
Biography for 7th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$15.00
Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail
by Theodore Roosevelt
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 9th-Adult
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$18.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Ranch under the Rimrock
by Dorothy Lawson McCall
from Binford & Mort Publishing
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Reconstruction: Binding the Wounds
Perspectives on History Series
by Cheryl Edwards, ed.
from History Compass
Historical Non-fiction for 6th-9th grade
in Gilded Age (1865-1918) (Location: HISA-19GI)
$7.95
Robert E. Lee the Christian
by William J. Johnstone
2nd edition from Christian Liberty Press
Biography for 9th-Adult
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$14.50
Rough Riders
by Theodore Roosevelt
from Dover Publications
Historical non-fiction for 9th-Adult
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$8.95
Sam Houston
by Noel Gerson
from Doubleday & Company
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Smiling Rebel
by Harnett T. Kane
from Doubleday & Company
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Standing Like a Stone Wall
by James I. Robertson Jr.
from Atheneum
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Stonewall Jackson
Sowers Series
by Charles Ludwig
from Mott Media
Biography for 7th-9th grade
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Team of Rivals
by Doris Kearns Goodwin
from Simon and Schuster
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Then Darkness Fled
Leaders in Action Series
by Stephen Mansfield
from Cumberland House
Biography for 9th-Adult
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$16.95
To Be a Slave
by Julius Lester
from Scholastic Inc.
Historical Non-fiction for 6th-10th grade
1969 Newbery Honor Book
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$4.99
To Be a Slave
Puffin Modern Classics
by Julius Lester, illustrated by Tom Feelings
from Puffin Books
Historical Non-fiction for 6th-10th grade
1969 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Trails Plowed Under
by Charles M. Russell
from Doubleday & Company
for 7th-12th grade
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$6.50 (1 in stock)
Twelve Years a Slave
by Solomon Northup
from Dover Publications
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$9.95
Ulysses S. Grant and the Strategy of Victory
History of the Civil War
by Laura Anne Rickarby
from Silver Burdett Press
for 4th-9th grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Virginia's General
by Albert Marrin
from Beautiful Feet Books
Biography for 7th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$15.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Walter Reed: Vanquishing Yellow Fever
by Edward F. Dolan, illustrated by Dan Siculan
from Encyclopedia Britannica
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Wild West
Book Club from Time-Life Books
for 6th-Adult
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Willa
by Ruth Franchere
from Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
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