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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)
Adventures of Davy Crockett
by David Crockett, illustrated by John W. Thomason
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
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)
American Barns and Covered Bridges
by Eric Sloane
1st edition from Wilfred Funk, Inc.
for 5th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
American Civil War
by Robert K. Krick
from Osprey Publishing
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
American Heritage History of the Indian Wars
by Robert M. Utley, Wilcomb E. Washburn
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
American Waterways: Canal Days
by Jeanne Munn Bracken, ed.
from History Compass
for 7th-12th grade
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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)
Andersonville
by MacKinlay Kantor
from World Publishing Company
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1955 Pulitzer Prize Winner
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Battle from the Start
by Brian Steel Wills
from HarperCollins
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$15.00 (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
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$17.00 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Behind the Scenes
by Elizabeth Keckley, edited by Frances Smith Foster
from Lakeside Press
for 10th-Adult
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Black Man in America
from Franklin Watts
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
Black Odyssey
by Mary Cable
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$5.00 (1 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)
Chickamauga
by Glenn Tucker
from Konecky & Konecky
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Chief Joseph Country
by Bill Gulick
3rd Printing 1994 from Caxton Press
for 8th-Adult
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$20.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War Battles
by Curt Johnson
1st edition from Crescent Books
for 7th-12th grade
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War Book of Facts
by Frank Burd
from Americana Souvenirs & Gifts
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War Songbook
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War: 1850-1895
American History by Era Volume 5
by Auriana Ojeda, book editor
from Greenhaven Press
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$14.00 (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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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Confederate War
by Gary W. Gallagher
from Harvard University Press
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Dark Venture
by Audrey White Beyer, illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 7th-12th grade
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$14.00 (1 in stock)
Diary of a Southern Refugee During the War
by Judith McGuire
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$9.50 (1 in stock)
Early Days of a Cowboy on the Pecos
by James F. Hinkle
from Unknown Publisher
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men
by Jeffrey Rogers Hummel
1st edition from Open Court Publishing
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$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
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in 19th Century America (Location: HISA-19C)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Forever Free
by Eric Foner, illustrations edited with commentary by Joshua Brown
from Vintage Classics
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$4.00 (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)
$14.95 $6.50 (1 in stock)
Gettysburg: Battle & Battlefield
by W. C. Storrick
from Barnes & Noble
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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
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Gilded Age: A History in Documents
Pages From History
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from Oxford University
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Gods and Generals
by Jeff Shaara
from Ballantine Books
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
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$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Great Battles of the Civil War
by John Macdonald
from John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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$15.00 (1 in stock)
Great Courses - American Civil War
from The Teaching Company
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$30.00 (1 in stock)
Harriet Beecher Stowe
by Suzanne M. Coil
from Franklin Watts
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
History Channel Presents: The War of 1812 - 2 DVDs
from History Channel
for 7th-12th grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$6.00 (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)
House Divided
by Ben Ames Williams, jacket & illustrations by Reginald Marsh
from Houghton Mifflin
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$20.00 (1 in stock)
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
by Harriet Jacobs
from Dover Publications
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in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.00 $3.00 (1 in stock)
Jacksonland
by Steve Inskeep
from Penguin Press
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Jefferson Davis and His Generals
by Steven E. Woodworth
from University Press of Kansas
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
John Brown Russwurm
by Mary Sagarin, Introduction by Ernest Kaiser
1st edition from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$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)
Killer Angels
by Michael Shaara
1st edition from Ballantine Books
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Labor's Untold Story
by Herbert M. Morais, Richard O. Boyer
3rd edition from United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of Amer
for 9th-Adult
in Industrialization & Organized Labor (Location: HISA-19IND)
$5.00 (2 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)
Laura
by Donald Zochert
from Avon Books
for 7th grade-adult
in Little House Materials (Location: LIR-LHM)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Leaders of the North and South
Civil War Chronicles
by Bill Sell
from MetroBooks
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$7.00 (1 in stock)
Leafy Rivers
by Jessamyn West
First Edition from Harcourt, Brace & World
for 11th-Adult
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Lewis & Clark: An illustrated History
by Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns
2004 printing from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 9th-Adult
in Lewis & Clark Expedition (1801-1803) (Location: HISA-19L&C)
$12.50 (1 in stock)
Life on the Mississippi
Signet Classics
by Mark Twain
from Harper & Brothers
Autobiography for 9th-Adult
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Little Bighorn
by Robert Nightengale
from Far West Publishing
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Log Cabin Cooking
by Barbara Swell
from Native Ground Music, Inc.
for 6th-12th grade
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Mark Twain
by Edward Wagenknecht
2nd Printing, 1962 from University of Oklahoma Press
for 10th-Adult
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Massacre at Fall Creek
by Jessamyn West
from Harcourt Brace Jovanich
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Mathew Brady
by James D. Horan
from Bonanza Books
for 8th-Adult
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Memorial Volume of Jefferson Davis
by J. William Jones
from Sprinkle Publications
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$22.00 (2 in stock)
Mirror of War: The Washington Star Reports the Civil War
by John W. Stepp, I. William Hill
from Prentice Hall
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Mornings on Horseback
by David McCullough
1st edition from Simon & Schuster Macmillan
for 9th-Adult
National; Book Award
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$20.00 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Mosby's Rangers
by Jeffry D. Wert
from Simon and Schuster
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Mountain Men
by George Frederick Ruxton, edited and illustrated by Glen Rounds
from Holiday House
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (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
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$21.95 $12.00 (1 in stock)
Narrative of the Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee
by David Crockett
Reprint from Bison Books
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.95 $8.50 (1 in stock)
Naval Warfare
Civil War Chronicles
by John C. Wideman
from MetroBooks
for 7th-Adult
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Old West: Miners
from Time-Life Books
for 7th-Adult
in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Oregon Trail, Yesterday and Today
from Caxton Press
for 6th-Adult
in Oregon Trail (Location: HISA-19OR)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Outlaws of Halfaday Creek
by James B. Hendryx
from A. L. Burt Company
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
Peter Cartwright, the Backwoods Preacher
by Peter Cartwright
Undated from Cranston and Curts
for 10th-Adult
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Prayin' to Be Set Free
from John F. Blair Publishing
for 10th-Adult
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Rainbow's Gold
by Vera Martin Lynch
from William W. Lynch
for 6th-12th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$5.50 (1 in stock)
Red River to Appomattox
The Civil War: A Narrative, Vol. 3
by Shelby Foote
from Vintage Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
Robert E. Lee
Heroes in Time
by John J. Dwyer
from Broadman & Holman
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Roots
by Alex Haley
Book Club Edition from Doubleday & Company
for 11th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Rough Riders
by Theodore Roosevelt
from University of Nebraska
Historical non-fiction for 9th-Adult
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Sam Houston
by Noel Gerson
from Doubleday & Company
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in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Self-Reliance and Other Essays
Dover Thrift Editions
by Ralph Waldo Emerson
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.00 $3.50 (2 in stock)
Shiloh: A Novel
by Shelby Foote
from Vintage Books
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Shiloh: A Novel
by Shelby Foote
from Barnes & Noble
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea
by Gary Kinder
from Vintage Classics
for 9th-Adult
in Clearance: Fiction (Location: ZCLE-FIC)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Smiling Rebel
by Harnett T. Kane
from Doubleday & Company
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Soldier's Story
Civil War Chronicles
by David Phillips
from MetroBooks
for 7th-Adult
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Soldiering Through History: Civil War
for 9th-12th grade
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Soul of the Lion
by Willard M. Wallace
Reprint from Stan Clark Military Books
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Stillness at Appomattox
The Army of the Patomac Volume 3
by Bruce Catton
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 10th grade-adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Streets Were Paved With Gold
by Stan Cohen
2012 Printing from Pictorial Histories Publishing Company
for 6th-Adult
in 19th Century America (Location: HISA-19C)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
This Hallowed Ground
by Bruce Catton
from Doubleday & Company
for 10th grade-adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Touched By Fire
by William C. Davis, ed.
from Black Dog & Leventhal
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Traveling the Missouri
from Silver Burdett Press
for 4th-Adult
in Lewis & Clark Expedition (1801-1803) (Location: HISA-19L&C)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
True Tales of the South at War
by Clarence Poe, ed.
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Twelve Years a Slave
by Solomon Northup
from Graymalkin Media
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Twentieth Maine
by John J. Pullen
from Morningside House, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Undaunted Courage
by Stephen Ambrose
from Simon and Schuster
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$20.00 $11.00 (3 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)
War Between the States
by John J. Dwyer and editors
1st edition from American Vision Press
American History Reference for 9th-Adult
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$32.00 (1 in stock)
We Shall Overcome - Book with CD
by Stuart Stotts, foreword by Pete Seeger, illustrated by Terrance Cummings
from Clarion Books
for 6th-12th grade
in Music History (Location: ELE-MUSHIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
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