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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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A Weed Is a Flower
by Aliki
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$7.99
ABC Book of Early Americana
by Eric Sloane
2012 Dover from Dover Publications
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Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance
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Abe's Honest Words
by Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by Kadir Nelson
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Abraham Lincoln
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
75th Anniversary Edition from Beautiful Feet Books
Picture Book Biography for 3rd-6th grade
1940 Caldecott Medal winner
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$15.95
Abraham Lincoln - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
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from Dover Publications
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Adventures with the Santa Fe Trail
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Revised from Kansas Heritage Center
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Africa Is My Home
by Monica Edinger, illustrated by Robert Byrd
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
AIO Imagination Station Book #22
by Marianne Hering & Sheila Seifert
from Focus on the Family
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by Marianne Hering & Sheila Seifert
from Focus on the Family
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$5.99
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by Marianne Hering & Sheila Seifert
from Focus on the Family
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$7.99
Alamo All Stars
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by Nathan Hale
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Amazing Impossible Erie Canal
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America in the Time of Abraham Lincoln
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American History for Young Students II
by Michelle Miller
from TruthQuest History
History Curriculum for 1st-5th grade
Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks
in TruthQuest History (Location: HISCUR-TQ)
$17.50 (1 in stock)
American History for Young Students III
by Michelle Miller
from TruthQuest History
History Curriculum for 1st-6th grade
Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks
in TruthQuest History (Location: HISCUR-TQ)
$29.95
American History Stories Volume 3
by Mara L. Pratt
from Yesterday's Classics
for 3rd-6th grade
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$11.95
American History Stories Volume 4
by Mara L. Pratt
from Yesterday's Classics
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Amistad - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
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Angel Knew Papa and the Dog
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$12.99
Annie Oakley: Young Marksman
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Ellen Wilson
from Aladdin Paperbacks
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$7.99
Antique Locomotives - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
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from Dover Publications
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$4.99
Apples to Oregon
by Deborah Hopkinson
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Aquila's Drinking Gourd
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from Tradition Books
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Ballad of Lucy Whipple
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Bears of Blue River
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Biggest (and best) Flag That Ever Flew
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Black Courage
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Blazing West: The Journal of Augustus Pelletier
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from Scholastic Inc.
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Blockade Runners and Ironclads
by Wallace B. Black
from Franklin Watts
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Buffalo Bill
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
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Picture Book Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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By the Dawn's Early Light
by Steven Kroll
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By the Shores of Silver Lake
Little House Series #5
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
1940 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.99
By the Shores of Silver Lake
Little House Series #5
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
1940 Newbery Honor Book
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$19.99
Cabin Boy to Advent Crusader
by Virgil Robinson, illustrated by Harry Baerg
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
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by Carol Ryrie Brink
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Realistic Family Fiction for 3rd-7th grade
1936 Newbery Medal winner
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$8.99
Caddie Woodlawn
by Carol Ryrie Brink
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Realistic Family Fiction for 3rd-7th grade
1936 Newbery Medal winner
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Caddie Woodlawn
by Carol Ryrie Brink
from Simon and Schuster
Realistic Family Fiction for 3rd-7th grade
1936 Newbery Medal winner
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$19.99
Caddie Woodlawn's Family
by Carol Ryrie Brink
from Aladdin Paperbacks
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Caleb's Choice
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California Gold Days
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1961 Printing from California State Department of Education
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Captive Treasure
by Milly Howard
from Bob Jones University Press
Realistic Fiction for 2nd-5th grade
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Carolina's Courage
by Elizabeth Yates
from Bob Jones University Press
Historical Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
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Child's Day
Historic Communities
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from Crabtree Publishing
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Children of the Covered Wagon
by Mary Jane Carr
2nd edition from Christian Liberty Press
Historical Fiction for 3rd-5th grade
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$16.75
Christmas on the Prairie
by Joan. Anderson
from Clarion Books
for 2nd-5th grade
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War Days
American Kids in History
by David C. King
1st edition from John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
for 3rd-6th Grade
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$16.95 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War Fashions - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Tom Tierney
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
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$5.99
Civil War Heroines
by Jill Canon
from Bellerophon Books
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$2.50 (1 in stock)
Civil War Paper Soldiers in Full Color
by A. G. Smith
from Dover Publications
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War Uniforms - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Peter F. Copeland
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
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$4.99
Civil War: An Interactive History Adventure
You Choose Books
by Matt Doeden
from Capstone Press
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Clara Barton: Amazing Civil War Nurse
Amazing Americans
by Mary Dodson Wade
from Enslow
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Clara Barton: Civil War Nurse
Historical American Biographies
by Nancy Whitelaw
from Enslow
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Cobblestone "The Panama Canal"
from Cobblestone Publishing
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Coloring Book of the Civil War
from Bellerophon Books
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$2.50 (2 in stock)
Confederate Girl: The Diary of Carrie Berry, 1864
by Carrie Berry; edited by Christy Steele and Anne Todd
from Capstone Press
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Copper-Toed Boots
by Marguerite de Angeli
from Wayne State University
Realistic Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
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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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Copper-Toed Boots
by Marguerite de Angeli
from Purple House Press
Realistic Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$26.99
Cora Frear
by Susan E. Goodman
from Aladdin Paperbacks
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$3.50 (2 in stock)
Courage to Run
Daughters of the Faith
by Wendy G. Lawton
from Moody Press
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Cowboy Charlie
by Jeanette Winter
from Purple House Press
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$18.95
Cowboys of the Old West - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by David Rickman
from Dover Publications
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$5.99
Cowboys on the Western Trail
by Eric Oatman
from National Geographic
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Cowgirls - Coloring Book
by Ubet Tomb
from Bellerophon Books
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$2.50 (2 in stock)
Crossing Bok Chitto
by Tim Tingle
from Cinco Puntos Pres
for 1st-4th grade
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$12.95
Daily Life in a Covered Wagon
by Paul Erickson
from Puffin Books
Historical Reference for 3rd-5th Grade
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$9.99
Davy Crockett
by George Edward Stanley
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 4rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Day It Rained Forever
Once Upon America
by Virginia T. Gross, illustrated by Ronald Himler
from Viking Press
for 3rd-5th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Diary of William Bircher: A Civil War Drummer
Fact Finders: First-Person Histories
by William Bircher
from Capstone Press
for 2nd-4th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
DK Eyewitness: Civil War
from DK Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$9.99
Down the Big River
Purple House Living History Library
by Stephen W. Meader, illustrated by Edward Shenton
from Purple House Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$10.99
Draw 50 Boats, Ships, Trucks, and Trains
by Lee Ames
from Watson-Guptill Publications
for 3rd-8th grade
in Draw 50 (Location: ELE-ARTD50)
$9.99
Drinking Gourd OSI
An I Can Read Book Level 3
by F. N. Monjo
from HarperCollins
Historical Fiction for 2nd-4th grade
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
$2.50 (2 in stock)
Early American History for Primary Grades - Guide
by Rea Berg
3rd edition from Beautiful Feet Books
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Beautiful Feet Books (Location: HISCUR-BFB)
$29.95 $20.00 (1 in stock)
Early American Industrial Revolution
Let Freedom Ring
by Katie Bagley
from Bridgestone Books
for 3rd-5th grade
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Early Family Home
Early Settler Life Series
by Bobbie Kalman
from Crabtree Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Early Settler Storybook
from Crabtree Publishing
for 1st-4th grade
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Electrical Wizard
by Elizabeth Rusch, illustrated by Oliver Dominguez
from Candlewick Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Enemies of Slavery
from Holiday House
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Escape North!
Step into Reading Level 4
by Monica Kulling
from Random House
for Grades 2-3
in Step into Reading (Location: EAR-STEP)
$5.99 $3.00 (2 in stock)
F is for Freedom
by Roni Schotter
from Scholastic Press
for 1st-3rd grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$1.50 (2 in stock)
Famous Figures of the Civil War
from Figures in Motion
for Kindergarten-6th grade
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$18.95
Famous Trains - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Bruce LaFontaine
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Transportation Coloring Books (Location: COL-TRANS)
$4.99
Fandex Family Field Guides: Civil War
from Workman Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$10.95 $7.00 (1 in stock)
Farmer Boy
Little House Series #3
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.99
Farmer Boy
Little House Series #3
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$19.99
Farmer Boy
Little House Series #3
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$13.99
Farmland Innovator
Creative Minds Biographies
by Catherine A. Welch, illustrated by Jan Naimo Jones
from Lerner Publishing Group
for 2nd-4th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Fashions of the Old South - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Tom Tierney
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Costume & Fashion Coloring Books (Location: COL-FAS)
$4.99
Fire at the Triangle Factory
by Holly Littlefield, illustrated by Mary O'Keefe Young
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
for 2nd-5th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
First Four Years
Little House Series #9
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.99
First Four Years
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$18.99
First Step
by Susan E. Goodman, illustrated by E. B. Lewis
from Bloomsbury Publishing
for Preschool-3rd grade
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$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
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Follow the Drinking Gourd
by Jeanette Winter
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Historical Fiction for 2nd-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Food and Recipes of Westward Expansion
Cooking Throughout American History
by George Erdosh
1st edition from PowerKids Press
for 1st-4th grade
in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Forty-Acre Swindle
TrailBlazer Books
by Dave & Neta Jackson
from Castle Rock Creative
for 3rd-7th grade
in Trailblazer Books (Location: SER-TRAIL)
$9.99
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