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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 Gets His Chance
by Frances Cavanah
from Rand McNally
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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Alamo All Stars
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #6
by Nathan Hale
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Aquila's Drinking Gourd
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Biggest (and best) Flag That Ever Flew
by Rebecca C. Jones, illustrated by Charles Geer
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Blockade Runners and Ironclads
by Wallace B. Black
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By the Shores of Silver Lake
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by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
1940 Newbery Honor Book
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Cabin Boy to Advent Crusader
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by Carol Ryrie Brink
from Simon and Schuster
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1936 Newbery Medal winner
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Caleb's Choice
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California Gold Days
by Helen Bauer
1961 Printing from California State Department of Education
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Clara Barton: Amazing Civil War Nurse
Amazing Americans
by Mary Dodson Wade
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Copper-Toed Boots
by Marguerite de Angeli
from Purple House Press
Realistic Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
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$26.99
Davy Crockett
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from Sterling Publishing Co.
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DK Eyewitness: Civil War
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Enemies of Slavery
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Little House Series #3
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First Four Years
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
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$18.99
First Step
by Susan E. Goodman, illustrated by E. B. Lewis
from Bloomsbury Publishing
for Preschool-3rd grade
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Flaming Arrows
by William O. Steele, Illustrated by Paul Galdone
1st edition from Harcourt
Historical Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
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Food and Recipes of Westward Expansion
Cooking Throughout American History
by George Erdosh
1st edition from PowerKids Press
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From Slave Ship to Freedom Road
by Julius Lester
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for 2nd-4th grade
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Going West
by Jean Van Leeuwen, illustrated by Thomas Allen
from Dial Books for Young Readers
Historical fiction for 2nd-4th grade
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Home Crafts (Historic Communities)
by Bobbie Kalman
from Crabtree Publishing
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How Sweet the Sound
by Carole Boston Weatherford, Illustrated by Frank Morrison
from Atheneum
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$17.99
How We Crossed the West
by Rosalyn Schanzer
from National Geographic
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
I am Sacagawea
Ordinary People Change the World
by Brad Meltzer, illustrated by Christopher Eliopoulos
from Dial Books for Young Readers
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Jeb Stuart
Historical American Biographies
by Lynda Pflueger
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John Brown: One Man Against Slavery
by Gwen Everett, Illustrated by Jacob Lawrence
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Last Princess
by Fay Stanley; illustrated by Diane Stanley
from HarperCollins
Picture Book Biographies for Kindergarten-3rd grade
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Little House - Hardcover Set
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
for 3rd-8th grade
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$144.71
Little House in the Big Woods
Little House Series #1
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
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$18.99
Little House in the Big Woods
by Laura Ingalls Wilder, illustrated by Garth Williams
Book Club Edition from Harper & Row
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Little House in the Big Woods
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Uniform Edition from Harper & Brothers
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Little House in the Big Woods (Pictorial Cover)
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from Harper & Row
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$7.00 (4 in stock)
Little House on the Prairie
Little House Series #2
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
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$19.99
Little Town on the Prairie
Little House Series #7
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
1942 Newbery Honor Book
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$19.99
Long Winter
Little House Series #6
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
1941 Newbery Honor Book
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$21.99
Lotta Crabtree
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from Pelican Publishing Company
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Make Way for Sam Houston
by Jean Fritz; illustrated by Elise Primavera
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Mark Twain and the Queens of the Mississippi
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Biography for 2nd-5th grade
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Moses
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1st edition from Hyperion/Madison Press
for Preschool-3rd grade
2007 Caldecott Honor Book
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O Captain, My Captain
by Robert Burleigh; illustrated by Sterling Hundley
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
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$16.99
Old Town in the Green Groves
by Cynthia Rylant
from HarperCollins
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$9.99
On the Banks of Plum Creek
Little House Series #4
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
1938 Newbery Honor Book
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$18.99
Perilous Journey of the Donner Party
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Pioneering on the Plains
Frontiers of America
by Edith McCall, illustrated by Carol Rogers
from Children's Press
for 2nd-5th grade
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Pony Express
by Steven Kroll, illustrated by Dan Andreasen
from Scholastic Press
for 2nd-3rd grade
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Pony Express
from Franklin Watts
for 3rd-6th grade
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Prairie Lotus
by Linda Sue Park
from Clarion Books
for 3rd-6th grade
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$16.99
Real Book About Abraham Lincoln
by Michael Gorham, illustrated by Elinore Blaisdell
from Doubleday & Company
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in Real Books series (Location: VIN-RBA)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Real Book About the Wild West
by Adolph Regli, illustrated by Ted Shearer
1st edition from Garden City Books
for 3rd-6th grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Rush for Gold
by Frank L. Beals, illustrated by Jack Merryweather
from California State Department of Education
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$30.00 (1 in stock)
Santa Fe Trail
by David Lavender
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So Tall Within
by Gary D. Schmidt, Illustrated by Daniel Minter
from Roaring Brook Press
for Preschool-3rd grade
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$18.99
Song of Paul Bunyan and Tony Beaver
by Ennis Rees
from Pantheon Books
for 3rd-6th grade
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Story of Old Ironsides
by Norman Richards
from Children's Press
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Story of Slavery
Usborne Young Reading
by Sarah Courtauld
from Usborne
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Story of the Gettysburg Address
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Kenneth Richards & Tom Dunnington
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Story of the Underground Railroad
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Sweetwater Run
by Andrew Glass
from Doubleday Book For Young Readers
for 2nd-6th grade
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
These Happy Golden Years
Little House Series #8
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
1944 Newbery Honor Book
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$21.99
They Were Strong and Good
by Robert Lawson
from Viking Press
for 1st-3rd grade
1941 Caldecott Medal winner
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$20.99 $11.00 (1 in stock)
Trail Through Danger
by William O. Steele, illustrated by Charles Beck
from Harcourt, Brace & World
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Underground Abductor
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #5
by Nathan Hale
from Amulet Books
for 3rd-8th grade
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$15.99
Unfading Beauty
by Tracy M. Leininger
from His Seasons
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Visiting a Village
Historic Communities
by Bobbie Kalman
for 1st-5th grade
in 19th Century America (Location: HISA-19C)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Visual Dictionary of the American Civil War
DK Visual Dictionaries
by John Stanchak
from DK Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
West to a Land of Plenty
Dear America
by Jim Murphy
from Scholastic Inc.
Fictional historical journal for 3rd-6th Grade
in Dear America Books (Location: SER-DEAR)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
When Will This Cruel War Be Over?
Dear America
by Barry Denenburg
from Scholastic Inc.
Fictional historical journal for 3rd-6th Grade
in Dear America Books (Location: SER-DEAR)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Who'd Believe John Colter?
from Simon and Schuster
for 2nd-5th grade
in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Will's Race for Home
by Jewell Parker Rhodes
from Little, Brown & Company
for 3rd-8th grade
2026 Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$17.99
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