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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
American Civil War
by Robert K. Krick
from Osprey Publishing
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in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
American Waterways: Canal Days
by Jeanne Munn Bracken, ed.
from History Compass
for 7th-12th grade
in 19th Century America (Location: HISA-19C)
$5.50 (1 in stock)
Amistad Slave Revolt and American Abolition
by Karen Zeinert
from Linnet Books
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in Slavery & the Underground Railroad (Location: HISA-19SL)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Balloon Boy of San Francisco
by Dorothy Kupcha Leland
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Battle of Seattle
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$11.99
Beginning of the Republic
A Basic History of the United States Volume 2
by Clarence B. Carson
from American Textbook Committee
American History Reference for 9th-Adult
in Basic History of the United States (Location: HISCUR-US)
$17.00
Behind the Blue and Gray
by Delia Ray
from Scholastic Inc.
for 5th-9th grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Biography of James A. Garfield
Sons of Liberty Series
by William Thayer
from A Beka Books
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$9.50 (1 in stock)
Boy in the Alamo
by Margaret Cousins
from Corona Publishing Co.
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Boy in the Alamo
by Margaret Cousins
from Veritas Press
Historical fiction for 4th-9th grade
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$19.00
Buffalo Bill
by Helen Cody Wetmore
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 6th-9th grade
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Captain, My Captain
by Deborah Meroff
from Inheritance Publications
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$14.95
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
by Jean Lee Latham
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 5th-9th grade
1956 Newbery Medal winner
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Civil War Songbook
from Dover Publications
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Co. Aytch
by Sam Watkins
from Touchstone
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$17.00
Colonial Triangular Trade: An Economy Based on Human Misery
by Phyllis Raybin Emert, ed.
from History Compass
for 7th-12th grade
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$5.50 (1 in stock)
Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men
by Jeffrey Rogers Hummel
1st edition from Open Court Publishing
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Eyewitnesses at the Battle of Franklin
by David R. Logsdon
4th edition
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Flight into Spring
by Bianca Bradbury
from Bethlehem Books
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 6th-9th grade
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Fortune of War
Aubrey/Maturin #6
by Patrick O'Brian
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From Sea to Shining Sea
by Peter Marshall & David Manuel
from Revell Publishing
American History Reference for 9th-Adult
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Gold Rush Dogs
by Claire Rudolf Murphy, Jane G. Haigh
from Alaska Northwest Books
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in Gilded Age (1865-1918) (Location: HISA-19GI)
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Great Battles of the Civil War
from John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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$15.00 (1 in stock)
Growing Up in Coal Country
by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
from Houghton Mifflin
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$7.95
Growth of America
A Basic History of the United States Volume 4
by Clarence B. Carson
from American Textbook Committee
American History Reference for 9th-Adult
in Basic History of the United States (Location: HISCUR-US)
$19.00
Helen Keller: The Story of My Life
by Helen Keller
from Dover Publications
Autobiography for 7th-10th grade
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$1.50 (4 in stock)
Hero Tales
by Theodore Roosevelt & Henry Cabot Lodge
from Cumberland House
Biography for 7th-10th grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Heyday
by Ben Wilson
from Weidenfeld & Nicolson
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
History of US Book 4
History of US Book 4
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
in History of US (Location: HISA-HAKIM)
$15.95 $11.00 (1 in stock)
History of US Book 5
History of US Book 5
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
in History of US (Location: HISA-HAKIM)
$15.95
History of US Book 6
History of US Book 6
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
in History of US (Location: HISA-HAKIM)
$15.95 $11.00 (2 in stock)
History of US Book 6
History of US Book 6
by Joy Hakim
3rd edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
in History of US (Location: HISA-HAKIM)
$9.00 (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
in History of US (Location: HISA-HAKIM)
$15.95 $11.00 (2 in stock)
If The South Had Won The Civil War
by MacKinlay Kantor
from Forge
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in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.99
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)
Jason Lee
Sowers Series
by Charles Ludwig
from Mott Media
Biography for 7th-9th grade
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Jessie Benton Fremont
by Marguerite Higgins
from Beautiful Feet Books
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$13.95
John Paul Jones
Sterling Point Books
by Armstrong Sperry
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Biography for 5th-9th grade
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$4.50 (1 in stock)
Journal of a Trapper
by Osborne Russell, edited by Aubrey L. Haines
from Bison Books
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Labor's Untold Story
by Herbert M. Morais, Richard O. Boyer
3rd edition from United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of Amer
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$5.00 (2 in stock)
Laddie
by Gene Stratton-Porter
from Indiana University Press
Romance for 7th-10th grade
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$16.95
Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Biography
by William Anderson
from HarperTrophy
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$9.99
Letter Writer
by Ann Rinaldi
Reprint from HMH Books for Young Readers
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Life of General Stonewall Jackson
by Mary Williamson
from Christian Liberty Press
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Life of J.E.B. Stuart
by Mary Williamson
2nd edition from Christian Liberty Press
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$11.75
Lincoln: A Photobiography
by Russell Freedman
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 5th-9th grade
1988 Newbery Medal winner
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Little House Coloring Book
Clr Csm from HarperCollins
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$18.99
Little Women
by Lousia May Alcott
from Penguin Putnam
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 9th-Adult
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$10.00
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy
by Gary D. Schmidt
from Clarion Books
for 7th-9th grade
2005 Newbery Honor Book
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$7.99
Men-of-War
by Patrick O'Brian
1st Us Edition from W. W. Norton and Co.
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$3.00 (2 in stock)
Mornings on Horseback
by David McCullough
1st edition from Simon & Schuster Macmillan
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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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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
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Of Courage Undaunted
by James Daugherty
from Beautiful Feet Books
Non-Fiction for 5th-9th grade
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$17.95
Outrageous Women of the American Frontier
Outrageous Women
1st edition from Jossey-Bass
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Pictorial History of the Civil War Years
by Paul M. Angle
from Main Street Books
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Pony Express
by C. W. Guthrie
from Two Dot Books
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Prairie Traveler
by Randolph Barnes Marcy
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Princess Ka'iulani
by Sharon Linnea
from Eerdmans
Biography for 7th-Adult
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$15.00
Railroad
Inventions That Shaped the World
by John Matthews
from Franklin Watts
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$6.50 (1 in stock)
Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail
by Theodore Roosevelt
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 9th-Adult
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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
Revenge of the Whale
by Nathaniel Philbrick
from Scholastic Inc.
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$3.00 (2 in stock)
Riders of the Pony Express
by Ralph Moody
from Bison Books
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$14.95
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
in Gilded Age (1865-1918) (Location: HISA-19GI)
$8.95
Rough Riders
by Theodore Roosevelt
from University of Nebraska
Historical non-fiction for 9th-Adult
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$11.00 (1 in stock)
Sections and the Civil War
A Basic History of the United States Volume 3
by Clarence B. Carson
from American Textbook Committee
American History Reference for 9th-Adult
in Basic History of the United States (Location: HISCUR-US)
$17.00
Self-Reliance and Essays on the Nature of Man
Copper Lodge Library
by Ralph Waldo Emerson, annotated by Stephanie B. Meter
from Classical Conversations
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$11.95
Shiloh: A Novel
by Shelby Foote
from Vintage Books
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Silver People
by Margarita Engle
from Clarion Books
for 7th-9th grade
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$10.99
Slopes of War
by N. A. Perez
from Houghton Mifflin
Historical Fiction for 6th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$11.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Stonewall Jackson
Sowers Series
by Charles Ludwig
from Mott Media
Biography for 7th-9th grade
in Sowers Biographies (Location: BIO-SOW)
$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Stories of Young Pioneers
by Violet T. Kimball
from Mountain Press
Historical Non-fiction for 6th-11th grade
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$14.00
Team of Rivals
by Doris Kearns Goodwin
from Simon and Schuster
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
They Loved to Laugh
by Kathryn Worth
from Bethlehem Books
Realistic Fiction for 6th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$14.95 $9.00 (1 in stock)
This was Mining in the West
by David W. Pearson
Second Edition; First Printing from Schiffer
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Twelve Years a Slave
by Solomon Northup
from Dover Publications
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in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$9.95
Undaunted Courage
by Stephen Ambrose
from Simon and Schuster
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$20.00 $11.00 (1 in stock)
Underground Railroad: Life on the Road to Freedom
Perspectives on History Series
by Pat Perrin, ed.
2nd edition from History Compass
for 7th-12th grade
in Slavery & the Underground Railroad (Location: HISA-19SL)
$5.50 (1 in stock)
Virginia's General
by Albert Marrin
from Beautiful Feet Books
Biography for 7th-10th grade
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$15.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
War of 1812
Perspectives on History Series
by Mary Alice Burke Robinson, editor
from History Compass
Historical Non-fiction for 6th-9th grade
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$7.95 $5.00 (1 in stock)
We Were There at the Battle of Gettysburg
by Alida Sims Malkus
Reprint from Dover Publications
for 5th-9th grade
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$6.99
We Were There at the Driving of the Golden Spike
by David Shepherd, William K. Plummer
Reprint from Dover Publications
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$7.99
White Seneca
by William W. Canfield
from Salem Ridge Press
for 5th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$10.50
Wide Horizon
Texas Panhandle Book 2
by Loula Grace Erdman
from Bethlehem Books
Realistic Fiction for 5th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$15.95
With Lee in Virginia
by G. A. Henty
from Dover Publications
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
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$16.95
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