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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 Gets His Chance
by Frances Cavanah
from Rand McNally
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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Buffalo Bill: Frontier Daredevil
Childhood of Famous Americans
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Cabin Boy to Advent Crusader
by Virgil Robinson, illustrated by Harry Baerg
from Southern Publishing Association
for 3rd-6th grade
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Clara Barton: Civil War Nurse
Historical American Biographies
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Electrical Wizard
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from Candlewick Press
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Emancipation Proclomation
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Forty-Acre Swindle
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Forward March to Freedom
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George Washington Carver - Unit Study Curriculum Guide
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by Geoff & Janet Benge
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Biography for 4th-6th grade
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Geronimo: Apache Freedom Fighter
Native American Biographies
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Harriet Tubman
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Harriet Tubman
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If You Grew Up With Abraham Lincoln
If You Were There
by Ann McGovern
from Scholastic Inc.
Historical Non-fiction for 2nd-5th grade
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$4.00 (2 in stock)
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In Their Own Words
by George Sullivan
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Biography for 3rd-4th grade
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by Michael Burgan
1st edition from Compass Point Books
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James Longstreet
Triangle Histories: The Civil War
by Melanie LeTourneau
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Historical American Biographies
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Triangle Histories: The Civil War
by W. Scott Ingram
from Blackbirch Press
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
John Charles Frémont
by Charles W. Maynard
1st edition from PowerKids Press
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
Joseph E. Johnston
Famous Figures of the Civil War Era
by Christin Ditchfield
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Kit Carson: Folk Hero and Man
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
Legends of the Wild West
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Lotta Crabtree
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$12.00 (2 in stock)
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Robert Fulton
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$5.00 (4 in stock)
Sacajawea
by Joseph Bruchac
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Biography for 3rd-7th grade
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Seneca Chief, Army General
Creative Minds Biographies
by Elizabeth Van Steenwyk, illustrated by Karen Ritz
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
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$4.50 (1 in stock)
Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention
Events That Shaped America
by Dale Anderson, Sabrina Crewe
from Gareth Stevens Publishing
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Shoes for Everyone
by Barbara Mitchell
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
Biography for 4th-6th grade
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Sojourner Truth
by Patricia & Frederick McKissack
from Scholastic Inc.
Biography for 4th-7th grade
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Stephen Foster
Lives and Times
by Peggy Pancella
from Heinemann Library
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Stonewall Jackson
Famous Figures of the Civil War Era
by Martha S. Hewson
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Story of Eli Whitney
by Jean Lee Latham
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$7.50 (3 in stock)
Story of Harriet Beecher Stowe
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Maureen Ash
from Children's Press
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Story of Harriet Tubman
Dell Yearling Biography
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from Yearling
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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Story of the Lincoln Memorial
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by Natalie Miller
from Unknown Publisher
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Story of the Reconstruction
Cornerstones of Freedom series
by Brendan January
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by Mary Hoehling
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Ulysses S. Grant
Triangle Histories: The Civil War
by David C. King
from Blackbirch Press
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Ulysses S. Grant and the Strategy of Victory
History of the Civil War
by Laura Anne Rickarby
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Walking the Road to Freedom
by Jeri Ferris
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
Biography for 4th-6th grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
We the People: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
by Michael Burgan
from Compass Point Books
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Where Lincoln Walked
by Raymond Bial
from Walker and Company
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Who Was Abraham Lincoln?
Who Was?...Series
by Janet Pascal
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Who Was George Washington Carver?
Who Was?...Series
by Jim Gigliotti, illustrated by Stephen Marchesi
from Grosset & Dunlap
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Who Was Helen Keller?
Who Was?...Series
by Gare Thompson
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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Wilderness Wife
by Etta B. Degering, illustrated by Ursula Koering
from David McKay Company
for 4th-8th grade
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$35.00 (1 in stock)
Will Rogers
by Cathareen L. Bennett
from Lerner Publishing Group
for 3rd-6th grade
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
William Henry Seward
Famous Figures of the Civil War Era
by Michael Burgan
from Chelsea House Publishing
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
William T. Sherman
Triangle Histories: The Civil War
by David C. King
1st edition from Blackbirch Press
for 4th-6th grade
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
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