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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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1846 - Portrait of the Nation
by Smithsonian Institute
from Smithsonian Books
in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
20 Plays for U. S. History Classes
by Dean R. Bowman
Revised from Walch Publishing
for 7th-9th grade
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290
by Scott O'Dell
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Hans Christian Andersen Award
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Abraham Lincoln & Frederick Douglass
by Russell Freedman
from Clarion Books
for 7th-12th grade
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
Abraham Lincoln in Peace and War
by Earl Schenck Miers
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 6th-10th grade
in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
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 Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$19.95
Abraham Lincoln's World
by Genevieve Foster
from Beautiful Feet Books
Historical Non-fiction for 7th-10th grade
1945 Newbery Honor Book
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Abraham Lincoln's World (pictorial hardcover)
by Genevieve Foster
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Historical Non-fiction for 7th-10th grade
1945 Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Across Five Aprils
by Irene Hunt
from Berkley Books
Historical Fiction for 6th-9th grade
1965 Newbery Honor Book
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$8.49 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Across Five Aprils
by Irene Hunt
from Berkley Books
Historical Fiction for 6th-9th grade
1965 Newbery Honor Book
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$8.49
Admiral David Glasgow Farragut
by Chester G. Hearn
from US Naval Institute Press
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Adventures in the Wilderness
by Rutherford Hayes Platt
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Adventures of Captain Bonneville
by Washington Irving, illustrated by Robert Reynolds
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by David Crockett, illustrated by John W. Thomason
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by Mark Twain
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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Mark Twain
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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Sterling Classics
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Scott McKowen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 6th-10th grade
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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Children's Classics
by Mark Twain, Illustrated by Peter Fiore
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
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Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Norman Rockwell
from Heritage Press
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
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Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Puffin Classics
by Mark Twain
from Penguin Classics
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
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$8.50
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain, illustrated by John Falter
from Macmillan
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
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Age of Fighting Sail
by C. S. Forester
from Chapman Billies, Inc
American Naval History for 8th-Adult
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Age of Fighting Sail
by C. S. Forester
1st edition from Doubleday & Company
American Naval History for 8th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Alamo
Perspectives on History Series
by Mary Dodson Wade, editor
from History Compass
Historical Non-fiction for 6th-9th grade
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Alaska Gold Rush
Landmark #92
by May McNeer, illustrated by Lynd Ward
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in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
All That Glitters
Perspectives on History Series
by Phyllis Raybin Emert
from History Compass
Historical Non-fiction for 6th-9th grade
in California (Location: HISA-19CGR)
America During Four Wars
by Earl Schenck Miers & Felix Sutton
from Grosset & Dunlap
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America's National Battlefield Parks
by Joseph E. Stevens
from University of Oklahoma Press
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American Barns and Covered Bridges
by Eric Sloane
1st edition from Wilfred Funk, Inc.
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$15.00 (1 in stock)
American Civil War
by Robert K. Krick
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
American Fairy Tales
1st edition from Hyperion Books for Children
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American Heritage History of the Indian Wars
by Robert M. Utley, Wilcomb E. Washburn
Revised from American Heritage Publishing Co.
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in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$12.00 (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)
American Yesterday
by Eric Sloane
15th Printing from Funk & Wagnalls
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Amistad
by Helen Kromer
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Amistad Slave Revolt and American Abolition
by Karen Zeinert
from Linnet Books
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Andersonville
by MacKinlay Kantor
from World Publishing Company
for 9th-Adult
1955 Pulitzer Prize Winner
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Andrew Carnegie and the Age of Steel
Landmark #80
by Katherine B. Shippen, illustrated by Ernie Barth
from Random House
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Annotated Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain
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Balloon Boy of San Francisco
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$8.46
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by Brian Steel Wills
from HarperCollins
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Battle of Gettysburg
by Bruce Catton
from Troll Associates
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in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)
Battle of Gettysburg
by Frank A. Haskell & William C. Oates
from Chapman Billies, Inc
Historical Non-fiction for 9th-Adult
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Battle of Seattle
by Douglas Bond
from P&R Publishing
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Beckoning Hills
Land of the Free Series
by Joseph H. Gage, illustrated by Floyd Torbert
1st edition from John C. Winston
Historical fiction for 6th-10th grade
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Beckoning Road
by Caroline Dale Snedeker
from American Home-School Publishing
American Historical Fiction for 7th-12th Grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
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
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$17.00 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Behind the Blue and Gray
by Delia Ray
from Scholastic Inc.
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Ben Snipes, Northwest Cattle King
by Roscoe Sheller
Third Edition from Binford & Mort Publishing
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Biography of James A. Garfield
Sons of Liberty Series
by William Thayer
from A Beka Books
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Black Falcon
by Armstrong Sperry
from John C. Winston
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Black Man in America
from Franklin Watts
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in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Black Potatoes
by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 5th-12th grade
2002 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award
in Great Britain / England (Location: HISMC-BRIT)
Blowing-Wand
Land of the Free Series
by Elsie Reif Ziegler, illustrated by Jacob Landau
1st edition from John C. Winston
Historical fiction for 6th-10th grade
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Bonanza Girl
by Patricia Beatty
from Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.
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Bonanza Girl
by Patricia Beatty
from Scholastic Inc.
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Booker T. Washington
by Shirley Graham
from Julian Messner
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Boy in the Alamo
by Margaret Cousins
from Corona Publishing Co.
Historical fiction for 4th-9th grade
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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
Boy with a Pack
by Stephen W. Meader, illustrated by Edward Shenton
from Harcourt, Brace & Company
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Bret Harte: Stories of the Early West
by Bret Harte
from Platt and Munk Publishers
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Buffalo Bill
by Helen Cody Wetmore
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 6th-9th grade
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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
for 6th-Adult
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Buffalo Coat
by Carol Ryrie Brink
for 9th-Adult
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Butter in the Well: Historical Diary 1868-1888
by Linda K. Hubalek
from Butterfield Books
for 8th-Adult
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$4.80 (1 in stock)
California Gold Rush
by Ralph K. Andrist
from Troll Associates
for 6th-10th grade
in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)
Captain Bayley's Heir
by G. A. Henty
from Preston Speed
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
Captain Bayley's Heir
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
Captain Bayley's Heir
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
Captain, My Captain
by Deborah Meroff
from Inheritance Publications
Historical Fiction for 8th-10th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$12.71
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)
$13.59
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
by Jean Lee Latham, illustrated by John O'Hara Cosgrave II
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 5th-9th grade
1956 Newbery Medal winner
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Carver: A Life in Poems
by Marilyn Nelson
from Boyds Mill Press
for 7th-11th grade
2002 Newbery Honor Book, Coretta Scott King Honor Award
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$14.41
Chariot in the Sky
Land of the Free Series
by Arna Bontemps, illustrated by Cyrus Le Roy Baldridge
1st edition from John C. Winston
Historical fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Chickamauga
by Horace Porter
from Konecky & Konecky
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Chief Joseph Country
by Bill Gulick
3rd Printing 1994 from Caxton Press
for 8th-Adult
in Native American History (Location: HISA-19NAT)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
Civil Disobedience and Other Essays
Dover Thrift Editions
by Henry David Thoreau
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$2.55
Civil War Battles
by Curt Johnson
1st edition from Crescent Books
for 7th-12th grade
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War Between the States
by Tom Spencer
from Logos School
Historical Reference for 9th-12th grade
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$18.00
Civil War Book of Facts
by Frank Burd
from Americana Souvenirs & Gifts
for 5th-Adult
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War Songbook
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War Stories
Dover Thrift Editions
by Ambrose Bierce
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.25
Civil War: 1850-1895
American History by Era Volume 5
by Auriana Ojeda, book editor
from Greenhaven Press
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Climb a Lofty Ladder
by Marion & Walter Havighurst, illustrated by Jill Elgin
1st edition from John C. Winston
Historical fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Clipper Ships and Captains
by Jane D. Lyon
from Troll Associates
for 6th-10th grade
in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)
Co. Aytch
by Sam Watkins
from Touchstone
Historical Non-fiction for 8th-Adult
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$17.00
Coming of the Mormons
Landmark #37
by Jim Kjelgaard, illustrated by Stephen J. Voorhies
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Complete Stories of Edgar Allen Poe
by Edgar Allan Poe
from International Collectors Library
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century America (Location: HISA-19C)
Copper Kings of Montana
Landmark #95
by Marian T. Place, illustrated by Ernest Kurt Barth
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Cowboys and Cattle Country
by Don Ward
from Troll Associates
for 6th-10th grade
in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)
Custer's Last Stand
Landmark #20
by Quentin Reynolds, illustrated by Frederick T. Chapman
from Random House Books for Young Readers
for 5th-9th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Custer's Last Stand
Landmark #20
by Quentin Reynolds
from Random House Books for Young Readers
for 5th-9th grade
in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
Danger in the Desert
by Roger Cohen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 5th-9th grade
in 20th Century Exploration (Location: HISW-20EXP)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Daniel Boone: The Opening of the Wilderness
Landmark #21
by John Mason Brown, illustrated by Lee J. Ames
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Dark Venture
by Audrey White Beyer, illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$11.20 (1 in stock)
David Farragut, Sea Fighter
by Marie Mudra, illustrated by Douglas Gorsline
from Julian Messner
for 9th-12th grade
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Davy Crockett
Landmark #57
by Stewart H. Holbrook, illustrated by Ernest Richardson
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Declaration of Independence and Other Great Documents of American History
Dover Thrift Editions
by John Grafton, editor
from Dover Publications
Primary Source Documents for 9th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$4.25 $2.00 (1 in stock)
Diary of a Southern Refugee During the War
by Judith McGuire
for 7th-12th grade
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$9.50 (1 in stock)
Disaster at Johnstown: The Great Flood
Landmark #109
by Hildegarde Dolson
from Random House
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