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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 Goes to Washington
by Cheryl Harness
from National Geographic
Picture Book Biography for 2nd-4th grade
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Abraham Lincoln
Heroes of History
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from Emerald Books
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Abraham Lincoln
by Clara Ingram Judson
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Biography for 3rd-7th grade
1951 Newbery Honor Book
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Abraham Lincoln
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
75th Anniversary Edition from Beautiful Feet Books
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1940 Caldecott Medal winner
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$17.95
Addy Learns a Lesson
by Connie Porter
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Adventures of Munford: Munford Meets Lewis & Clark
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Adventures of Munford: The Klondike Gold Rush
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Alexander Graham Bell
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Allen Jay and the Underground Railroad
On My Own History
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Amazing Impossible Erie Canal
by Cheryl Harness
from Aladdin Paperbacks
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$7.99
America in the Time of Abraham Lincoln
by Sally Senzell Isaacs
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Angel Knew Papa and the Dog
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Ashes
Seeds of America #3
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Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky
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Boston Jane
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Little House Series #5
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1940 Newbery Honor Book
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$9.99
California Gold Rush
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Chains
Seeds of America #1
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Changes for Addy
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2nd edition from Christian Liberty Press
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Tales of the Wild West Volume 6
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$2.50 (3 in stock)
Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters
by Fredrick & Patricia McKissack
from Scholastic Press
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1995 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in 19th Century America (Location: HISA-19C)
Civil War
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Civil War
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Civil War Days
American Kids in History
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Civil War for Kids
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Civil War Handbook - Confederate Captain
by Robin Robinson
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Civil War Handbook - Union Lieutenant
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Civil War Heroines
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Clara Barton
Heroes of History
by Geoff & Janet Benge
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Biography for 4th-7th grade
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$11.99
Copper-Toed Boots
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from Wayne State University
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Courage to Run
Daughters of the Faith
by Wendy G. Lawton
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$8.99
Cowboys
Tales of the Wild West Volume 4
by Rick Steber
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Cowboys of the Wild West
by Russell Freedman
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Cowboys of the Wild West
by Russell Freedman
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$4.50 (1 in stock)
Crossing Bok Chitto
by Tim Tingle
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$12.95
Curious World of Calpurnia Tate
by Jacqueline Kelly
Reprint from Square Fish Publishing
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2010 Newbery Honor
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$7.99
Daily Life in a Covered Wagon
by Paul Erickson
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$9.99
Daniel Boone
by Daniel Boone
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Daria Solves a Mystery
by Norma Jean Lutz
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Davy Crockett
by David Crockett
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Davy Crockett
Heroes of History
by Geoff & Janet Benge
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$11.99
Diary of an Early American Boy
by Eric Sloane
from Dover Publications
American History Reference for 4th-8th grade
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$14.95
Diary of an Early American Boy
by Eric Sloane
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Diary of an Early American Boy
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Did You Invent The Phone All Alone, Alexander Graham Bell?
by Gilda Berger, Melvin Berger
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Down the Big River
Purple House Living History Library
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Elise the Actress
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Era of Modernization Through the 1930s
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Erie Canal
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Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
by Jacqueline Kelly
Reprint from Square Fish Publishing
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2010 Newbery Honor
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Farmer Boy
Little House Series #3
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
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$8.99
Farmer Boy
Little House Series #3
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
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$9.99
Fear in the Forest
by Cateau de Leeuw
from Bethlehem Books
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$14.95
First Four Years
Little House Series #9
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
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$8.99
Follow the Drinking Gourd
by Jeanette Winter
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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$7.99
For Home & Country
by Angela Herb & Norman Bolotin
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$3.50 (2 in stock)
Forge
Seeds of America #2
by Laurie Halse Anderson
from Atheneum
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Fort Clatsop
by Daniel J. Dattilio
from KC Publishing
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$4.50 (2 in stock)
Forty-Acre Swindle
TrailBlazer Books
by Dave & Neta Jackson
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Forty-Acre Swindle
TrailBlazer Books
by Dave & Neta Jackson
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$8.99
Frederick Douglass: The Right to Dignity
from Emerald Books
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$11.99
Freedom's Pen
Daughters of the Faith
by Wendy G. Lawton
New Edition from Moody Press
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$7.99
From Sea to Shining Sea for Children
by Peter Marshall, David Manuel & Anna Fishel
from Revell Publishing
American History Reference for 4th-6th grade
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Frontier Village
by Catherine E. Chambers
from Troll Communications
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in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
George Washington Carver
Heroes of History
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from Emerald Books
Biography for 4th-7th grade
in Heroes of History (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Gettysburg Address in Translation
by Kay M., Olson
from Capstone Press
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$7.95
Go Free or Die
by Jeri Ferris
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
Biography for 4th-6th grade
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$9.99
Gold Rush Dogs
by Claire Rudolf Murphy, Jane G. Haigh
from Alaska Northwest Books
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$5.50 (1 in stock)
Gold Rush Fever
by Barbara Greenwood
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in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Grandfather's Dance
by Patricia MacLachlan
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
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$6.99
Grandpa's Stories
Tales of the Wild West Volume 10
by Rick Steber
from Bonanza Publishing
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in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
$2.50 (2 in stock)
Great Fire
by Jim Murphy
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
1996 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award
in 19th Century America (Location: HISA-19C)
$7.99
Great Fire
by Jim Murphy
Later Printing from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in 19th Century America (Location: HISA-19C)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Harriet Tubman
Heroes of History
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from Emerald Books
Biography for 4th-7th grade
in Heroes of History (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Harriet Tubman
by Frances T. Humphreville
from Houghton Mifflin
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
Hattie Big Sky
by Kirby Larson
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$8.99
Heading West
by William E. Hill
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$1.50 (2 in stock)
Helen Keller
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History Pockets: American Civil War
from Evan-Moor Educational Publishers
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House Divided
Young Founders 1863
by Elizabeth Massie
from Tor Classic
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
How We Crossed the West
by Rosalyn Schanzer
Reprint from National Geographic
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$7.95
If You Grew Up With Abraham Lincoln
If You Were There
by Ann McGovern
from Scholastic Inc.
Historical Non-fiction for 2nd-5th grade
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