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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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Abraham Lincoln in Peace and War
by Earl Schenck Miers
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
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in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)
Abraham Lincoln's World (pictorial hardcover)
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Historical Non-fiction for 7th-10th grade
1945 Newbery Honor Book
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Admiral David Glasgow Farragut
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Adventures in the Wilderness
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from Troll Associates
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Adventures of Buffalo Bill
by Col. William F. Cody
from Harper & Brothers
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Captain Bonneville
by Washington Irving, illustrated by Robert Reynolds
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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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by Mark Twain
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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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by Mark Twain, illustrated by Scott McKowen
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$14.95
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Children's Classics
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Adventures of Tom Sawyer
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Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Norman Rockwell
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Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Worth Brehm
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Album of the Civil War
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America During Four Wars
by Earl Schenck Miers & Felix Sutton
from Grosset & Dunlap
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American Fairy Tales
1st edition from Hyperion Books for Children
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American Heritage History of the Indian Wars
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Andersonville
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Annotated Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain
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Annotated Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant
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Annotated Uncle Tom's Cabin
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Army of the Potomac - 3 Volumes
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Battle from the Start
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Battle of Gettysburg
by Bruce Catton
from Troll Associates
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in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)
Beckoning Hills
Land of the Free Series
by Joseph H. Gage, illustrated by Floyd Torbert
1st edition from John C. Winston
Historical fiction for 6th-10th grade
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Ben Snipes, Northwest Cattle King
by Roscoe Sheller
Third Edition from Binford & Mort Publishing
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Black Falcon
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Black Man in America
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Blowing-Wand
Land of the Free Series
by Elsie Reif Ziegler, illustrated by Jacob Landau
1st edition from John C. Winston
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Boy with a Pack
by Stephen W. Meader, illustrated by Edward Shenton
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Bret Harte: Stories of the Early West
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Buffalo Bill's Life Story
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1966 printing from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
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Buffalo Coat
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California Gold Rush
by Ralph K. Andrist
from Troll Associates
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Call of Duty
Leaders in Action Series
by Steve Wilkins
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Biography for 9th-Adult
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$16.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Carry a Big Stick
Leaders in Action Series
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Carver: A Life in Poems
by Marilyn Nelson
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2002 Newbery Honor Book, Coretta Scott King Honor Award
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$16.95
Centennial History of the Civil War - 3 Volumes
by Bruce Catton
from Doubleday & Company
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Chariot in the Sky
Land of the Free Series
by Arna Bontemps, illustrated by Cyrus Le Roy Baldridge
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Historical fiction for 6th-10th grade
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Chickamauga
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Chief Joseph Country
by Bill Gulick
from Caxton Press
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Civil War Battles
by Curt Johnson
1st edition from Crescent Books
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in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War: 1861-1865
by David E. Roth
from Zigzag
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$15.00 (1 in stock)
Climb a Lofty Ladder
by Marion & Walter Havighurst, illustrated by Jill Elgin
1st edition from John C. Winston
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Clipper Ships and Captains
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Cowboys and Cattle Country
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Early Days in Old Oregon
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Early Days of a Cowboy on the Pecos
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Erie Canal
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from Troll Associates
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Footprints of the Dragon
Land of the Free Series
by Vanya Oakes, illustrated by Tyrus Wong
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Four Wagons West
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Frederick Douglass In His Own Words
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Frontier in American History
by Frederick Jackson Turner
from Franklin Library
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Frontier Living
by Edwin Tunis
1st Edition from HarperCollins
Historical Reference for 7th-10th grade
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George Rogers Clark, Soldier in the West
by Walter Havinghurst
from McGraw-Hill
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Germinal
by Emile Zola
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Gettysburg: Battle & Battlefield
by W. C. Storrick
from Barnes & Noble
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Gold, Guns, and Ghost Towns
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Grant Moves South
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from Back Bay Books
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Great Trains of All Time
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Guns Off Cape Ann
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Harriet Beecher Stowe
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
History of Human Society: Pioneer America
The History of Human Society
by John R. Alden
1st edition from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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House Divided
by Ben Ames Williams, jacket & illustrations by Reginald Marsh
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How the Merrimac Won
by R.W. Daly
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Illustrious Americans - Volume 1
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from Mantle Ministries
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Illustrious Americans - Volume 2
by Edward Everett Hale
from Mantle Ministries
Biography for 8th-10th grade
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Image of War: 1861-1865 Volume 1
by Jenny Davis
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
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In the Hands of the Cave Dwellers
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
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In the Heart of the Rockies
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
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James Fenimore Cooper
by Isabel Proudfit
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James Fenimore Cooper
by Donald A. Ringe
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
John Brown Russwurm
by Mary Sagarin, Introduction by Ernest Kaiser
1st edition from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
John Brown's Body
by Stephen Vincent Benet
from Rinehart & Company, Inc.
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Pulitzer Prize Winner
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John Brown's Body: A Poem
by Stephen Vincent Benet
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Pulitzer Prize Winner
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John James Audubon: Painting America's Wildlife
by Janet Stevenson, illustrated by Robert Boehmer
from Encyclopedia Britannica
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Johnstown Flood
by David McCullough
from Simon and Schuster
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Lady of Arlington
by Harnett T. Kane
from Doubleday & Company
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Last of the Old West
by George Mecklenburg
from The Capital Book Co.
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Laura Ingalls Wilder: Pioneer Girl
by Laura Ingalls Wilder, edited by Pamela Smith Hill
from South Dakota State Historical Society Press
for 7th-Adult
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$39.99
Lewis & Clark Voyage of Discovery
by Stephen E. Ambrose, photography by Sam Abell
First Edition from National Geographic
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Life and Letters of "Stonewall" Jackson
by Mary Anna Jackson
from Sprinkle Publications
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Life of Andrew Jackson
by John S. Jenkins
from New Leaf Press
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$13.50
Life of John Newton
by American Missionary Fellowship
from Attic Books
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$9.50
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith
from Little, Brown & Company
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Little Women
by Lousia May Alcott, illustrated by Harve Stein
from Garden City Books
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 9th-Adult
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Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith
Centennial Edition from Little, Brown & Company
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Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Hilda Van Stockum
Centennial Edition from World Publishing Company
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Little Women
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Hodges Soileau and Louis Jambor
from Reader's Digest
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
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Luck of the La Verendryes
by Lyn Harrington
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
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Marcus and Narcissa Whitman
by James Daugherty
from Viking Press
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Marcus Whitman: The Great Command
by Nard Jones
2nd edition from Binford & Mort Publishing
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Mary Chesnut's Civil War
by C. Vann Woodward, ed.
from Book-of-the-Month Club
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Mathew Brady
by James D. Horan
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Memorial Volume of Jefferson Davis
by J. William Jones
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$22.00 (2 in stock)
Mirror of War: The Washington Star Reports the Civil War
by John W. Stepp, I. William Hill
from Prentice Hall
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Mountain Men
by George Frederick Ruxton, edited and illustrated by Glen Rounds
from Holiday House
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Mr. Madison's War
Milestones in History
by Noel B. Gerson
from Julian Messner
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New York Times Complete Civil War, 1861-1865
by Harold Holzer and Craig Symonds (editors), foreword by Bill Clinton
from Black Dog & Leventhal
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$14.00 (1 in stock)
Nothing Like It in the World
by Stephen E. Ambrose
from Simon and Schuster
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
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