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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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Adventures of Munford: Munford Meets Lewis & Clark
by Jamie Aramini
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America in the Time of Abraham Lincoln
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Behind the Blue and Gray
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by Louise Erdrich
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Boston Jane
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Boy in the Alamo
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Bull Run
by Paul Fleischman, David Frampton (Woodcuts)
2nd edition from Scholastic Inc.
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Carolina's Courage
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Children of the Wild West
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Children's Stories
Tales of the Wild West Volume 6
by Rick Steber
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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 Handbook - Confederate Captain
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Civil War Handbook - Union Lieutenant
by Robin Robinson
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Civil War Heroines
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Tales of the Wild West Volume 4
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Cowboys of the Wild West
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Cowboys of the Wild West
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Biography for 4th-8th grade
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Biography for 4th-8th grade
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Diary of an Early American Boy
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Diary of an Early American Boy
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Era of Modernization Through the 1930s
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For Home & Country
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Fort Clatsop
by Daniel J. Dattilio
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Forty-Acre Swindle
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by Dave & Neta Jackson
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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)
Gold Rush Dogs
by Claire Rudolf Murphy, Jane G. Haigh
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in Gilded Age (1865-1918) (Location: HISA-19GI)
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Gold Rush Fever
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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
Later Printing from Scholastic Inc.
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$4.00 (2 in stock)
Harriet Tubman
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Heading West
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House Divided
Young Founders 1863
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If You Grew Up With Abraham Lincoln
If You Were There
by Ann McGovern
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If You Lived at the Time of the Civil War
If You Were There
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Historical Non-fiction for 2nd-5th grade
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If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon
If You Were There
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Incredible Journey of Lewis and Clark
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Incredible Journey of Lewis and Clark
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Indians
Tales of the Wild West Volume 3
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Industrial Revolution
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J. Pierpont Morgan
by Michael Burgan
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Jed Smith
by Frank Latham
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Biography for 4th-8th grade
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Jericho's Journey
by G. Clifton Wisler
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Journey West on the Oregon Trail
by Cecile Alyce Nolan
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Kirsten's Cook Book
American Girl
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$2.40 (1 in stock)
Klondike Fever
by Michael Cooper
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Last Safe House
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Lewis & Clark Hands On Art & English Activities
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Lewis and Clark for Kids
by Janis Herbert
from Chicago Review Press
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Little House in the Big Woods
Little House Series #1
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
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Little House on Rocky Ridge
Rocky Ridge Years Book 1
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from HarperCollins
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Louisiana Purchase (Let Freedom Ring)
by Elizabeth Jaffe
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Lucretia Ann on the Oregon Trail
by Ruth Gipson Plowhead
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Many Thousand Gone
by Virginia Hamilton
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Martha of California
by James Otis
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$4.00 (34 in stock)
Meet Samantha
American Girl
by Susan S. Adler
from American Girl
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg
by Rodman Philbrick
from Scholastic Press
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2010 Newbery Honor Book
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My Little House Crafts Book
by Carolyn Strom Collins & Christina Wyss Eriksson
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Arts and Crafts for 3rd-6th grade
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Nation Torn
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Nation Torn
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Naya Nuki
by Kenneth Thomasma
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Historical Fiction for 4th-6th grade
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Neeluk
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Our Only May Amelia
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Pathways of America: The Oregon Trail
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Picture Book of Lewis and Clark
by David A. Adler
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$4.50 (2 in stock)
Pioneer Crafts
by Inc. Kids Can Press
from Kids Can Press
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Pioneer Days
American Kids in History
by David C. King
1st edition from John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Pioneer Days
American Kids in History
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from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th Grade
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Pioneer Sampler
by Barbara Greenwood
from Houghton Mifflin
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$15.99 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Pioneers
Tales of the Wild West Volume 11
by Rick Steber
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for 4th-7th grade
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$2.50 (2 in stock)
Pledge of Allegiance in Translation
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$4.00 (2 in stock)
Prairie Visions
by Pam Conrad
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for 4th-6th grade
1992 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
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$7.00 (2 in stock)
Quilt-Block History of Pioneer Days
by Mary Cobb
from Millbrook Press
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Railroad
Inventions That Shaped the World
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$6.50 (1 in stock)
Red Moon at Sharpsburg
by Rosemary Wells
First Scholastic printing 2008 from Scholastic Inc.
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Sacajawea
by Joseph Bruchac
from Graphia
Biography for 3rd-7th grade
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Sailors, Whalers, Fantastic Sea Voyages
by Valerie Petrillo
1st edition from Chicago Review Press
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$7.50 (2 in stock)
Samantha Learns a Lesson
American Girls
by Susan S. Adler
from American Girl
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Secret School
by Avi
from Sandpiper Books
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in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$7.99 $4.00 (2 in stock)
Seeds of America - Boxed Set
by Laurie Halse Anderson
from Atheneum
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$26.99 $17.00 (1 in stock)
Seneca Chief, Army General
Creative Minds Biographies
by Elizabeth Van Steenwyk, illustrated by Karen Ritz
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
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in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Sounding Forth the Trumpet for Young Readers
by Anna Wilson Fishel, David Manuel, Peter Marshall
from Revell Publishing
for 4th-6th grade
in Light and the Glory (Location: HISA-LG)
$9.50 (2 in stock)
Star-Spangled Banner
by Douglas M. Rife
from Teaching & Learning Company
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Start Exploring the American West
by Emmanuel M. Kramer, illustrated by Helen I. Driggs
from Running Press
for 1st-5th grade
in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Stonewall Jackson
Famous Figures of the Civil War Era
by Martha S. Hewson
from Chelsea House Publishing
for 4th-7th grade
in Clearance: Biographies (Location: ZCLE-BIO)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Story of Eli Whitney
by Jean Lee Latham
from Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.
for 4th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.50 (3 in stock)
Story of the Pony Express
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Story of the Star-Spangled Banner
by Deborah Kent
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Tall Tales
Tales of the Wild West Volume 13
by Rick Steber
from Bonanza Publishing
for 4th-7th grade
in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
$2.50 (2 in stock)
The Story of the Erie Canal
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Thunder at Gettysburg
by Patricia Lee Gauch, Stephen Gammell
from Boyds Mill Press
for 1st-4th grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Toward the Setting Sun
by Mary Barmeyer O'Brien
1st edition from Two Dot Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Trails to Poosey
by Olive R. Cook
from Misty Hill Press
Pioneer Fiction for 4th-7th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Treasure Legends of the West
by Choral Pepper
1st edition from Gibbs M. Smith
for 4th-8th grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Trouble for Lucy
by Carla Stevens
from Clarion Books
Historical Fiction for 4th-5th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.95 $5.50 (1 in stock)
True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
by Avi
from Scholastic Press
for 3rd-7th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$9.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
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