Digital History
Digital History: The Struggle for Public Schools
The ideal of public education has been one in the United States from the very earliest settlements. Read two teachers' view of the state of education as they taught in the early 1800s. Find out who supported the idea of free schooling...
Digital History
Digital History: Utopian Socialism
A good look at the Utopian communities that were attempted in the first half of the 19th century. They had differing reasons for their development, but their common focus was trying a unique way of communal living. Read about the Oneida...
Digital History
Digital History: Creating a Distinctly American Culture
Truly American literature based on American legend, native scenes, and American culture began to find a place in the 1820s. Read about three of the American writers that introduced American literature to a reading public.
Digital History
Digital History: The American Renaissance
A description of American Romantic authors, their backgrounds and what they wrote. These writers made American literature truly American.
Digital History
Digital History: American Ethnic Literature
Educated white men weren't the only ones contributing to a truly American literature. Read about the literature written by Native Americans, African Americans, Mexican Americans, and Irish Americans. All added to the melting pot of...
Digital History
Digital History: The Artist in American Society
See how the creation of visual art in its many forms developed over the first half of the 19th century. In addition of the painters in the Hudson River School of Art, read about the beautification of natural spaces such as parks, and...
Digital History
Digital History: The Birth of American Popular Culture
A description of many different forms of popular culture in the first half of the 19th century ranging from sensationalized newspapers to dime novels to pseudoscience. Read about Stephen Foster's music, theatrical productions, and even...
Digital History
Digital History: The Texas Question in American Politics
A very interesting explanation of how Texas was annexed to the United States despite much opposition. Read about the false conspiracy put forth by pro-slavery Southerners concerning Great Britain's plan for Texas.
Digital History
Digital History: The Texas Revolution
Why would American citizens emigrate to Spanish-held, and later Mexican-held Texas? Read about the reasons, their grievances against their Mexican rulers, and the eventual revolution that brought independence to Texas.
Digital History
Digital History: "Go West and Grow Up With the Country"
When Horace Greeley gave his advice to go West, young man, he meant as far west as Iowa. See how the Midwest was settled by pioneers, lumberjacks, and miners. Read about squatters on the fine prairie land and how they were able to keep...
Digital History
Digital History: Donner Party
The gruesome story of the Donner Party is a cautionary tale of poor planning. Read about the survivors and those who did not live to see their dreams of California.
Digital History
Digital History: The Mexican War
Read about the attempt by the United States to purchase land in the Southwest prior to the declaration of war between the two countries. Find out the causes of the war, and see that there was considerable opposition to the war in the...
Digital History
Digital History: War Fever and Antiwar Protests
What started out as a prowar inclination of American citizens at the beginning of the Mexican War soon deteriorated. Read about the opposition of politicians, clergymen, and intellectuals to the reasoning for the war, and later for the...
Digital History
Digital History: Peace
Read about the peace treaty that ended the Mexican War. See that there were some who wanted to annex the whole of Mexico and were disappointed with the terms of the treaty.
Digital History
Digital History: The Political Crisis of the 1840s
Read about the attempt to keep slavery out of the newly acquired Mexican Cession, and so how this attempt revealed an increased split between North and South.
Digital History
Digital History: Western Expansion: Conclusion
A good overview of the territorial expansion and its results that occurred in the United States over the first half of the 19th century.
Digital History
Digital History: The Old South: Images and Realities
First read the plantation legend about life in the South. The remainder of the article refutes the legend, explains the differences in many facets of the South, and emphasizes the importance of the Southern agricultural output to the...
Digital History
Digital History: The South's Economy
A good look at the economy of the South prior to the Civil War. Read a good explanation of how the use of slave labor impeded technological innovation and a lack of urban development. See how transportion improvements and good public...
Digital History
Digital History: Southern Nationalism
An interesting look at the Southern attempt to, at first defend the institution of slavery, and later, to become defiant about it. See how Southern intellectuals, religious leaders, and politicians strove to create a self-sufficiency in...
Digital History
Digital History: The Slave Power Conspiracy
Read about a book published in 1864 that contended that there was a conspiracy to spread slavery into the western territories. See that the accusations included in the book could not be authenicated, but the ideas presented showed the...
Digital History
Digital History: Slavery in a Capitalist World
Read about the discontinued use of slave labor in the Western world in the first half of the 19th century in all but five countries in the Western Hemisphere, most notably, the American South. See why Southern politicians and slave...
Digital History
Digital History: The Compromise of 1850
Before finding the final terms of the Compromise of 1850, read about the disputes and debate that accompanied the attempts to pass something that would address Northern and Southern concerns.
Digital History
Digital History: The Fugitive Slave Law
See why the Fugitive Slave Act was such a contentious, divisive law that exacerbated tensions between North and South.
Digital History
Digital History: The Breakdown of the Party System
As the Whig Party collapsed and the new Republican Party was forming, there was a flash-in-the pan party, the Know Nothing Party, that filled the void for a few years. Read about the success of the party in electing legislation, and find...