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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
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Across America
by Jacqueline Morley
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in Lewis & Clark (Location: HISA-19L&C)
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Adventures of Munford: Munford Meets Lewis & Clark
by Jamie Aramini
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for 2nd-4th grade
in Lewis & Clark (Location: HISA-19L&C)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Adventures with the Santa Fe Trail
by Dave Webb, illustrated by Phillip R. Buntin
Revised from Kansas Heritage Center
for 3rd-6th grade
in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Alamo!
by George Sullivan
from Scholastic Inc.
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in Mexican-American War (Location: HISA-19TEX)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
America in the Time of Abraham Lincoln
by Sally Senzell Isaacs
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America in the Time of Lewis and Clark
by Sally Senzel Isaacs
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Appomattox
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Ballad of Lucy Whipple
by Karen Cushman
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Battle of the Little Bighorn
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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Before the Gold Rush
from McClelland & Stewart Limited
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Behind the Blue and Gray
by Delia Ray
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$4.50 (1 in stock)
Big Annie of Calumet
by Jerry Stanley
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Big Annie of Calumet
by Jerry Stanley
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in Industrialization & Organized Labor (Location: HISA-19IND)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Big Book of the Civil War
by Joanne Mattern
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Billy Yank - Coloring Book
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Birchbark House
by Louise Erdrich
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for 4th-6th grade
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$2.50 (1 in stock)
Bite of the Gold Bug
by Barthe DeClements
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Black Courage
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
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by Kathryn Lasky
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Blizzard!
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2001 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
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Boston Jane
by Jennifer L. Holm
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Boy in the Alamo
by Margaret Cousins
from Corona Publishing Co.
Historical fiction for 4th-9th grade
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Buffalo Bill
by Frank L. Beals, illustrated by Jack Merryweather
1959 Edition from Wheeler Publishing, Inc.
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$14.00 (1 in stock)
Buffalo Bill: Frontier Daredevil
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Meryl Stevenson
from Aladdin Paperbacks
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$7.99 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Bull Run
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Historical Fiction for 4th-7th grade
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Bull Run
by Paul Fleischman, David Frampton (Woodcuts)
2nd edition from Scholastic Inc.
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Bull Run
by Paul Fleischman
from HarperCollins
Historical Fiction for 4th-7th grade
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By the Great Horn Spoon!
by Sid Fleischman
from Little, Brown & Company
Realistic Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
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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
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By the Shores of Silver Lake (Pictorial Cover)
Little House Series #5
by Laura Ingalls Wilder; illustrated by Garth Williams
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
1940 Newbery Honor Book
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$9.00 (2 in stock)
Cabin Boy to Advent Crusader
by Virgil Robinson, illustrated by Harry Baerg
from Southern Publishing Association
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Cabin Faced West
by Jean Fritz
from Puffin Books
Historical fiction for 4th-6th grade
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Caleb's Choice
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Caleb's Story
by Patricia MacLachlan
from HarperCollins
Family Stories for 2nd-6th grade
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California Gold Days
by Helen Bauer
1961 Printing from California State Department of Education
for 3rd-6th grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Carolina's Courage
by Elizabeth Yates
from Bob Jones University Press
Historical Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
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Children of the Civil War
Picture the American Past
by Candice F. Ransom
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
for 2nd-5th grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Children of the Emancipation -1860s to 1890s
Picture the American Past
by Wilma King
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
for 2nd-5th grade
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Children of the Wild West
by Russell Freedman
from Clarion Books
for 4th-8th grade
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$5.00 (3 in stock)
Children of the Wild West
by Russell Freedman
from Clarion Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Children's Stories
Tales of the Wild West Volume 6
by Rick Steber
from Bonanza Publishing
for 4th-7th grade
in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
$2.50 (3 in stock)
Christmas on the Prairie
by Joan. Anderson
from Clarion Books
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in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Civil War
by Janet Cassidy
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-8th Grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War
by Pat Wesolowski
from Unknown Publisher
for 4th-8th grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$3.00 (2 in stock)
Civil War
CTP Theme Series
by Kerry Anderson
from Creative Teaching Press
for 4th-6th grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War
American War Series
by Zachary Kent
from Enslow
for 4th-8th grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$3.50 (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 (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$16.95 $8.50 (1 in stock)
Civil War Handbook - Confederate Captain
by Robin Robinson
from Silverleaf Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War Handbook - Union Lieutenant
by Robin Robinson
from Silverleaf Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War Heroines
by Jill Canon
from Bellerophon Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Clara Barton: Civil War Nurse
Historical American Biographies
by Nancy Whitelaw
from Enslow
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Cobblestone "Laura Ingalls Wilder: Growing Up on the Prairie"
Volume Seven: Number Two
from Cobblestone Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
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$1.50 (1 in stock)
Cobblestone "The Panama Canal"
from Cobblestone Publishing
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in Gilded Age (1865-1918) (Location: HISA-19GI)
$1.50 (1 in stock)
Coloring Book of the Civil War
from Bellerophon Books
for 2nd-6th grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$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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in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
Conrad Elroy, Powder Monkey
by Alvin Robert Cunningham
from Perfection Learning
for 2nd-6th grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Cowboy Boots
by Shannon Garst
from Abingdon-Cokesbury Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Cowboy Soldier
by Donald Russell, illustrated by Max Ranft
from Benefic Press
for 3rd-4th grade
in Vintage Readers & Textbooks (Location: VIN-READ)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Cowboys
Tales of the Wild West Volume 4
by Rick Steber
from Bonanza Publishing
for 4th-7th grade
in Cowboys & Cattlemen (Location: HISA-19CO)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Cowboys and Cattle Ranching
from Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.
for 4th-6th grade
in Cowboys & Cattlemen (Location: HISA-19CO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Cowboys of the Wild West
by Russell Freedman
from Sandpiper Books
Non-fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Cowboys & Cattlemen (Location: HISA-19CO)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Cowboys of the Wild West
by Russell Freedman
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-8th grade
in Cowboys & Cattlemen (Location: HISA-19CO)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Cowgirls - Coloring Book
by Ubet Tomb
from Bellerophon Books
for 3rd-7th grade
in Cowboys & Cattlemen (Location: HISA-19CO)
$2.50 (2 in stock)
Crazy Horse: The Story of an American Indian
by John R. Milton
Second Printing 1975 from Dillon Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Dakota Dugout
by Ann Turner; illustrated by Ronald Himler
from Macmillan
for 2nd-4th grade
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Daniel Boone
by Daniel Boone
from Applewood Books
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$14.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Dark and Bloody Ground
by Phyllis R. Fenner, ed.
from William Morrow & Company
for 4th-7th grade
in Vintage Anthology Collections (Location: VIN-ANTH)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Davy Crockett
by David Crockett
from Applewood Books
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$14.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Davy Crockett
by George Edward Stanley
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 4rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Dear Levi
by Elvira Woodruff
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Oregon Trail (Location: HISA-19OR)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Diary of an Early American Boy
by Eric Sloane
from Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.
for 4th-8th grade
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Diary of an Early American Boy
by Eric Sloane
from Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.
for 4th-8th grade
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Dreams in the Golden Country
Dear America
by Kathryn Lasky
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Dear America Books (Location: SER-DEAR)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Drinking Gourd
An I Can Read Book Level 3
by F. N. Monjo
from HarperCrest
Historical Fiction for 2nd-4th grade
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Early American History for Intermediate Grades (really old)
by Rea Berg
from Beautiful Feet Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Old Edition History & Geography (Location: OHIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Early American Industrial Revolution
Let Freedom Ring
by Katie Bagley
from Bridgestone Books
for 3rd-5th grade
in Industrialization & Organized Labor (Location: HISA-19IND)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Early Settler Storybook
from Crabtree Publishing
for 1st-4th grade
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$6.00 (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)
Emancipation Proclomation
by Tonya Bolden
from Abrams Books for Young Readers
for 4th-9th grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Era of Modernization Through the 1930s
by Kathy Sammis
from Walch Publishing
for 4th-8th grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
by Jacqueline Kelly
from Henry Holt and Company
for 4th-7th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Facing West
by Kathleen V. Kudlinski
for 4th-7th grade
in Oregon Trail (Location: HISA-19OR)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Fandex Family Field Guides: Civil War
from Workman Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$10.95 $7.00 (1 in stock)
Fields of Fury
by James M. McPherson
from Atheneum
for 4th-7th grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$24.99 $14.00 (2 in stock)
First Four Years
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$18.99 $8.00 (1 in stock)
First Four Years (Pictorial Cover)
by Laura Ingalls Wilder; illustrated by Garth Williams
from Harper & Row
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (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)
$7.50 (2 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)
For Home & Country
by Angela Herb & Norman Bolotin
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$3.50 (2 in stock)
Fort Clatsop
by Daniel J. Dattilio
from KC Publishing
for 4th-8th grade
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$4.50 (2 in stock)
Forts in the Wilderness
by Edith S. McCall
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Fortune's Bones
by Marilyn Nelson, notes and annotations by Pamela Espeland
from Front Street
for 4th-8th grade
2005 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book
in Slavery & the Underground Railroad (Location: HISA-19SL)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Forty-Acre Swindle
TrailBlazer Books
by Dave & Neta Jackson
from Bethany House
for 3rd-7th grade
in Trailblazer Books (Location: SER-TRAIL)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Forward March to Freedom
by Barbara Kay Greenleaf
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
From East to West with Lewis and Clark - Set
from Unknown Publisher
for 4th-8th grade
in Lewis & Clark (Location: HISA-19L&C)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
From Log Cabin to White House with Abraham Lincoln - Set
from Multnomah Books
for 4th-7th grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
From Sea to Shining Sea for Children
by Peter Marshall, David Manuel & Anna Fishel
from Revell Publishing
American History Reference for 4th-6th grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
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