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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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1861: The Civil War Awakening
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America in the Time of Abraham Lincoln
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American Civil War
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American Waterways: Canal Days
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Boston Jane
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Boys' War
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Buffalo Bill and the Wild West
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
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Seeds of America #1
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Historic Communities
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Civil War
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Civil War
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$3.00 (2 in stock)
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Civil War Artist
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American Kids in History
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Civil War for Kids
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Activity Guide for 4th-7th grade
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Civil War Heroines
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Civil War Songbook
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Civil War: 1850-1895
American History by Era Volume 5
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$14.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War: A History
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
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Daughters of the Faith
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Cowboys of the Wild West
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Diary of an Early American Boy
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DK Eyewitness: Civil War
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Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men
by Jeffrey Rogers Hummel
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Escape from Slavery
by Frederick Douglass, edited and illustrated by Michael McCurdy, foreword by Coretta Scott King
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Escape North!
Step into Reading Level 4
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F is for Freedom
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Follow the Drinking Gourd
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Forever Free
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Fort Clatsop
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Fortune of War
Aubrey/Maturin #6
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Francis Scott Key
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George Washington Carver
Heroes of History
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Biography for 4th-7th grade
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Gettysburg Address in Translation
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Go Free or Die
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Biography for 4th-6th grade
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Going West!
Kalideoscope Kids Book
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Gold Rush Fever
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Grandpa's Stories
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Great Battles of the Civil War
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Great Fire
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Harriet Tubman
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Harriet Tubman: Freedom Fighter
I Can Read! Level 2
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Heading West
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Helen Keller: The Story of My Life
by Helen Keller
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Autobiography for 7th-10th grade
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History of US Book 4
History of US Book 4
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
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History of US Book 5
History of US Book 5
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
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History of US Book 5
History of US Book 5
by Joy Hakim
3rd edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
in Joy Hakim's A History of US (Location: HISA-HAKIM)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
History of US Book 6
History of US Book 6
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
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$15.95 $11.00 (2 in stock)
History of US Book 6
History of US Book 6
by Joy Hakim
3rd edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
in Joy Hakim's A History of US (Location: HISA-HAKIM)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
History of US Book 7
History of US Book 7
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
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History of US Book 7
History of US Book 7
by Joy Hakim
3rd edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
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If You Grew Up With Abraham Lincoln
If You Were There
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Historical Non-fiction for 2nd-5th grade
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If You Traveled On the Underground Railroad
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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Historical Non-fiction for 2nd-5th grade
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In the Name of the Father
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
by Harriet Jacobs
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$5.00 $3.00 (1 in stock)
Incredible Journey of Lewis and Clark
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Historical Reference for 4th-7th grade
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Incredible Journey of Lewis and Clark
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from Scholastic Inc.
Historical Reference for 4th-6th grade
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Indians
Tales of the Wild West Volume 3
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from Bonanza Publishing
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$2.50 (1 in stock)
Industrial Revolution
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J. Pierpont Morgan
by Michael Burgan
1st edition from Compass Point Books
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
Jason Lee
Sowers Series
by Charles Ludwig
from Mott Media
Biography for 7th-9th grade
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$5.00 (2 in stock)
Jericho's Journey
by G. Clifton Wisler
from Puffin Books
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
John Paul Jones
Sterling Point Books
by Armstrong Sperry
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Biography for 5th-9th grade
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$4.50 (2 in stock)
Johnny Appleseed: The Story of a Legend
by Will Moses
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$4.00 (2 in stock)
Kit Carson and the Wild Frontier
Landmark #53
by Ralph Moody
2005 printing from University of Nebraska
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$7.50 (2 in stock)
Klondike Fever
by Michael Cooper
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Labor's Untold Story
by Herbert M. Morais, Richard O. Boyer
3rd edition from United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of Amer
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$5.00 (2 in stock)
Ladies Were Not Expected
by Dorothy Nafus Morrison
2nd edition from Oregon Historical Society Press
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Land of Hope
by Wilfred M. McClay
from Encounter Books
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$49.99 $25.00 (1 in stock)
Last Safe House
by Barbara Greenwood
from Kids Can Press
for 4th-6th grade
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Last Safe House
by Barbara Greenwood
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Slavery & the Underground Railroad (Location: HISA-19SL)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Letter Writer
by Ann Rinaldi
Reprint from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 5th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Lewis & Clark Hands On Art & English Activities
by Sharon Jeffus
from Geography Matters
for 4th-6th grade
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$12.95 $8.00 (2 in stock)
Lewis and Clark for Kids
by Janis Herbert
from Chicago Review Press
Historical Reference/Activity Book for 4th-6th grade
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$16.95 $12.00 (2 in stock)
Life of General Stonewall Jackson
by Mary Williamson
from Christian Liberty Press
Biography for 7th-10th grade
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$8.23 $6.00 (1 in stock)
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