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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)
$12.00 (2 in stock)
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)
$21.95
Abraham Lincoln: Great Speeches
Dover Thrift Editions
by Abraham Lincoln & John Grafton, editor
from Dover Publications
Political Philosophy for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.00
Abraham Lincoln: The Man & His Faith
by G. Frederick Owen
from Tyndale House
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
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)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Puffin Classics
by Mark Twain
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for 6th-10th grade
in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF)
$8.99
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Sterling Classics
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Scott McKowen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$14.95
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Puffin Classics
by Mark Twain
from Penguin Classics
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$10.00
Age of Fighting Sail
by C. S. Forester
1st edition from Doubleday & Company
American Naval History for 8th-Adult
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Album of the Civil War
by William Loren Katz
from Franklin Watts
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$4.50 (1 in stock)
American Barns and Covered Bridges
by Eric Sloane
1st edition from Wilfred Funk, Inc.
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in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
American Civil War
by Robert K. Krick
from Osprey Publishing
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$6.50 (1 in stock)
American Heritage History of the Indian Wars
by Robert M. Utley, Wilcomb E. Washburn
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American Waterways: Canal Days
by Jeanne Munn Bracken, ed.
from History Compass
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$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 Slave Revolt and American Abolition
by Karen Zeinert
from Linnet Books
for 7th-10th grade
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$6.50 (1 in stock)
Andersonville
by MacKinlay Kantor
from World Publishing Company
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1955 Pulitzer Prize Winner
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Antebellum America: 1784-1850
American History by Era Volume 4
by William Dudley (book editor)
from Greenhaven Press
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$6.40 (1 in stock)
Battle from the Start
by Brian Steel Wills
from HarperCollins
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Battle of Gettysburg
by Frank A. Haskell & William C. Oates
from Chapman Billies, Inc
Historical Non-fiction for 9th-Adult
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
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-BHUS)
$17.00
Behind the Scenes
by Elizabeth Keckley, edited by Frances Smith Foster
from Lakeside Press
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Black Man in America
from Franklin Watts
for 6th-12th grade
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
Black Odyssey
by Mary Cable
from Penguin Classics
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in Slavery & the Underground Railroad (Location: HISA-19SL)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Bonanza Girl
by Patricia Beatty
from Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.
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$6.00 (4 in stock)
Butter in the Well: Historical Diary 1868-1888
by Linda K. Hubalek
from Butterfield Books
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Call of Duty
Leaders in Action Series
by Steve Wilkins
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Biography for 9th-Adult
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$16.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Captain, My Captain
by Deborah Meroff
from Inheritance Publications
Historical Fiction for 8th-10th grade
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$14.95
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)
$16.95
Chickamauga
by Horace Porter
from Konecky & Konecky
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Civil Disobedience and Other Essays
Dover Thrift Editions
by Henry David Thoreau
from Dover Publications
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in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.00
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)
$21.50
Civil War Book of Facts
by Frank Burd
from Americana Souvenirs & Gifts
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in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War Songbook
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$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)
$5.00
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)
$11.20 (1 in stock)
Civil War: 1861-1865
by David E. Roth
from Zigzag
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in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War: A History
by Harry Hansen, Introduction by Richard S. Wheeler, Foreword by Gary Gallagher
from New American Library
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War: A Narrative - 3 Volume Set
by Shelby Foote
1st Vintage Books Ed from Vintage Classics
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$74.80
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
Confederate War
by Gary W. Gallagher
from Harvard University Press
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
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)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
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)
$5.00
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)
Early Days of a Cowboy on the Pecos
by James F. Hinkle
from Unknown Publisher
for 7th-12th grade
in Cowboys & Cattlemen (Location: HISA-19CO)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men
by Jeffrey Rogers Hummel
1st edition from Open Court Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Era Of Civil War & Reconstruction 1860-1877
Focus on U.S. History
by Kathy Sammis
from Walch Publishing
for 7th-12th grade
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Era Of Expansion & Reform 1800-1860
Focus on U.S. History
by Kathy Sammis
from Walch Publishing
for 7th-12th grade
in 19th Century America (Location: HISA-19C)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Era Of Industrial Growth & Foreign Expansion 1865-1900
Focus on U.S. History
by Kathy Sammis
from Walch Publishing
for 7th-12th grade
in 19th Century America (Location: HISA-19C)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Exploring the U.S. Life-Saving Service: 1878-1915
by Rebecca Locklear
for 4th-12th grade
in Military & Weapon History (Location: HISV-MILIT)
$19.95
Eyewitnesses at the Battle of Franklin
by David R. Logsdon
4th edition
for 9th-Adult
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Forever Free
by Eric Foner, illustrations edited with commentary by Joshua Brown
from Vintage Classics
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
Fortune of War
Aubrey/Maturin #6
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
From Sea to Shining Sea
by Peter Marshall & David Manuel
from Revell Publishing
American History Reference for 9th-Adult
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Frontier Living
by Edwin Tunis
from Lyons Press
Historical Reference for 7th-10th grade
Newbery Honor Book 1962
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$19.95
Gettysburg
by Frank A. Haskell & William C. Oates
from Bantam Books
Historical Non-fiction for 9th-Adult
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$6.00
Gettysburg: Battle & Battlefield
by W. C. Storrick
from Barnes & Noble
for 9th-Adult
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Gettysburg: The Final Fury
by Bruce Catton, photographs by Matthew Brady
1982 Edition from Berkley Books
for 9th-Adult
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Gilded Age: A History in Documents
by Janette Thomas Greenwood
from Oxford University
for 9th-12th grade
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
Gilded Age: A History in Documents
Pages From History
by Janette Thomas Greenwood
from Oxford University
for 9th-12th grade
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
Gladys Aylward: The Little Woman
by Gladys Aylward
from Moody Press
for 7th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.99
Gods and Generals
by Jeff Shaara
from Ballantine Books
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Gone with the Wind
by Margaret Mitchell
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Romance for 9th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$23.00
Great Battles of the Civil War
by John Macdonald
from John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Great Courses - American Civil War
from The Teaching Company
for 9th-12th grade
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$30.00 (1 in stock)
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-BHUS)
$19.00
Harriet Beecher Stowe
by Suzanne M. Coil
from Franklin Watts
for 7th-12th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Harriet Tubman: Moses of Her People
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.95
Helen Keller: The Story of My Life
Signet Classics
by Helen Keller
Reprint from Signet Classics
Autobiography for 7th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.95
Helen Keller: The Story of My Life
by Helen Keller
from Dover Publications
Autobiography for 7th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.00 $2.50 (2 in stock)
History Channel Presents: The War of 1812 - 2 DVDs
from History Channel
for 7th-12th grade
$12.00 (1 in stock)
History of Human Society: Pioneer America
The History of Human Society
by John R. Alden
1st edition from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Homemade Uniforms
by Daniel Forster
for 6th-10th grade
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$5.00
House Divided
by Ben Ames Williams, jacket & illustrations by Reginald Marsh
from Houghton Mifflin
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
House of the Seven Gables
Signet Classics
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
from Signet Classics
Fantasy for 9th-12th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.95
How the Merrimac Won
by R.W. Daly
from Thomas Crowell
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Humanitas: American Republic - 2 Volume Set
by Christopher Maiocca, editor
from Classical Academic Press
for 9th-12th grade
in CAP Humanitas (Location: HISCUR-CAP)
$57.95
If The South Had Won The Civil War
by MacKinlay Kantor
from Forge
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.99
Image of War: 1861-1865 Volume 1
by Jenny Davis
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
by Harriet Jacobs
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.00 $3.00 (1 in stock)
James Fenimore Cooper
by Donald A. Ringe
from Twayne Publishers
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
John Brown Russwurm
by Mary Sagarin, Introduction by Ernest Kaiser
1st edition from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
John Brown's Body
by Stephen Vincent Benet
from Rinehart & Company, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
Pulitzer Prize Winner
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
John Deere Story
by Neil Dahlstrom and Jeremy Dahlstrom, introduction by David Vaught
from Northern Illinois University Press
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
John James Audubon: Painting America's Wildlife
by Janet Stevenson, illustrated by Robert Boehmer
from Encyclopedia Britannica
for 7th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Journals of Lewis & Clark
Signet Classics
by John Bakeless, editor
from Signet Classics
Primary Source Documents for 9th-Adult
in Lewis & Clark Expedition (1801-1803) (Location: HISA-19L&C)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Journals of Lewis & Clark
Signet Classics
by John Bakeless, editor
from Signet Classics
Primary Source Documents for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$8.95
Killer Angels
by Michael Shaara
from Ballantine Books
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Killer Angels
by Michael Shaara
from Ballantine Books
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.99
Labor's Untold Story
by Herbert M. Morais, Richard O. Boyer
3rd edition from United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of Amer
for 9th-Adult
in Industrialization & Organized Labor (Location: HISA-19IND)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Laddie
by Gene Stratton-Porter
from Indiana University Press
Romance for 7th-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$16.95
Lady of Arlington
by Harnett T. Kane
from Doubleday & Company
for 6th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Land of Hope
by Wilfred M. McClay
from Encounter Books
for 10th-Adult
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
$49.99 $25.00 (1 in stock)
Lantern in Her Hand
by Bess Streeter Aldrich
from Puffin Books
Realistic fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.99
Laura
by Donald Zochert
from Avon Books
for 7th grade-adult
in Little House Materials (Location: LIR-LHM)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Biography
by William Anderson
from HarperTrophy
for 4th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$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 $20.00 (1 in stock)
Leaders of the North and South
Civil War Chronicles
by Bill Sell
from MetroBooks
for 7th-Adult
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
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