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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 Grows Up
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Abraham Lincoln
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Abraham Lincoln
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1940 Caldecott Medal winner
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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
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Abraham Lincoln: The Man & His Faith
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Buffalo Bill and the Wild West
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Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
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1956 Newbery Medal winner
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Clara Barton
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Did You Invent The Phone All Alone, Alexander Graham Bell?
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Escape from Slavery
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$13.99
Eyewitnesses at the Battle of Franklin
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Frederick Douglass: The Right to Dignity
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Freedom's Pen
Daughters of the Faith
by Wendy G. Lawton
New Edition from Moody Press
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$7.99
George Washington Carver
Heroes of History
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Gettysburg Address in Translation
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Go Free or Die
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Biography for 4th-6th grade
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$9.99
Harriet Tubman
Heroes of History
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Biography for 4th-7th grade
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$11.99
Harriet Tubman
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Helen Keller: The Story of My Life
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History of US Book 7
History of US Book 7
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3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
in Joy Hakim's A History of US (Location: HISA-HAKIM)
$15.95 $11.00 (1 in stock)
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 (1 in stock)
In the Name of the Father
by Francois Furstenberg
from Penguin Books
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
by Harriet Jacobs
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J. Pierpont Morgan
by Michael Burgan
1st edition from Compass Point Books
for 4th-7th grade
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
Jason Lee
Sowers Series
by Charles Ludwig
from Mott Media
Biography for 7th-9th grade
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$13.95
John Flynn
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Biography for 4th-8th grade
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$11.99
John Paul Jones
Sterling Point Books
by Armstrong Sperry
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Biography for 5th-9th grade
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$4.50 (2 in stock)
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An All Aboard Reading Reader Level 4
by Jean Fritz
from Grosset & Dunlap
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Life of General Stonewall Jackson
by Mary Williamson
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Life of J.E.B. Stuart
by Mary Williamson
2nd edition from Christian Liberty Press
Biography for 7th-10th grade
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$11.75
Life of Josiah Henson
by Josiah Henson
from Dover Publications
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$5.00
Lincoln: A Photobiography
by Russell Freedman
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 5th-9th grade
1988 Newbery Medal winner
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Listen for the Whippoorwill
Trailblazer Books
by Dave & Neta Jackson
from Castle Rock Creative
for 3rd-7th grade
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$8.99
Lost City
by Ted Lewin
Reprint from Puffin Books
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$8.99
Make Way for Sam Houston
by Jean Fritz
from Penguin Putnam
for 3rd-6th grade
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$6.99
Man Who Would Not Be Washington
by Jonathan Horn
from Scribner
for Adult
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$4.80 (1 in stock)
Meriwether Lewis
Heroes of History
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from Emerald Books
Biography for 4th-7th grade
in Heroes of History (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Mornings on Horseback
by David McCullough
1st edition from Simon & Schuster Macmillan
for 9th-Adult
National; Book Award
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$20.00 $10.00 (1 in stock)
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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$18.66 $9.60 (1 in stock)
Narrative of the Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee
by David Crockett
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Naval War of 1812
by Theodore Roosevelt
from Random House
Historical Non-fiction for 10th-Adult
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$15.95
Naya Nuki
by Kenneth Thomasma
from Baker Books
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Oregon Trail
by Rinker Buck
from Simon and Schuster
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$20.99
Outrageous Women of the American Frontier
Outrageous Women
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Picture Book of Davy Crockett
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from Holiday House
Picture Book Biography for 2nd-4th grade
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$7.99
Picture Book of Sacagawea
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Prayin' to Be Set Free:
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Princess Ka'iulani
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Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail
by Theodore Roosevelt
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 9th-Adult
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$18.95
Reconstruction: Binding the Wounds
Perspectives on History Series
by Cheryl Edwards, ed.
from History Compass
Historical Non-fiction for 6th-9th grade
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$7.95
Righteous Cause
by Robert W. Cherny
from University of Oklahoma Press
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Robert E. Lee the Christian
by William Johnson
from Christian Liberty Press
Biography for 7th-10th grade
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$2.50 (1 in stock)
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
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$8.95
Sacajawea
by Joseph Bruchac
from Graphia
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$10.99
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)
Separate Battle
Young Readers' History of the Civil War
by Ina Chang
Reprint from Puffin Books
for 5th-8th grade
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$5.50 (1 in stock)
Separate Battle
Young Readers' History of the Civil War
by Ina Chang
from Scholastic Reference
for 5th-8th grade
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Soul of the Lion
by Willard M. Wallace
Reprint from Stan Clark Military Books
for 10th-Adult
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans
by Edward Eggleston
2nd edition from Memoria Press
Narrative History for 1st-4th grade
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$15.10
Story of Eli Whitney
by Jean Lee Latham
from Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.
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$7.50 (3 in stock)
Story of Eli Whitney
by Jean Lee Latham
Second Edition from Avyx, Inc.
for 4th-8th grade
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
Stout-Hearted Seven
Sterling Point
by Neta Lohnes Frazier
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Non-fiction/Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Oregon Trail (Location: HISA-19OR)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Theodore Roosevelt
Heroes of History
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from Emerald Books
Biography for 4th-7th grade
in Heroes of History (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Thomas Edison for Kids
by Laurie Carlson
from Chicago Review Press
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$19.99
Twelve Years a Slave
by Solomon Northup
from Dover Publications
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$9.95
Virginia's General
by Albert Marrin
from Beautiful Feet Books
Biography for 7th-10th grade
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$15.95 $10.00 (2 in stock)
Voice of Her Own
by Kathryn Lasky, Illustrated by Paul Lee
from Candlewick Press
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$6.99
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)
Who Was Abraham Lincoln?
Who Was?...Series
by Janet Pascal
from Grosset & Dunlap
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$5.99 $3.00 (2 in stock)
Who Was Helen Keller?
Who Was?...Series
by Gare Thompson
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Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Who Was Laura Ingalls Wilder?
by Patricia Brennan Demuth
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Who Was Mark Twain?
Who Was?...Series
by April Jones Prince, John O'Brien
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$6.99
With Custer's Cavalry
by Katherine Gibson Fougera
from University of Nebraska
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
With Open Hands
by Jeri Chase Ferris
from Beautiful Feet Books
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$12.95
You Want Women to Vote, Lizzie Stanton?
by Jean Fritz
from Penguin Putnam
for 4th-6th grade
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$6.99
Young Abe Lincoln
by Cheryl Harness
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Picture Book Biography for
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