1812: The Navy’s War
Daughan, George C.
Basic 2011 Dewey Dec. 973.5
In 1812: The Navy’s War, award-winning naval historian George C. Daughan tells the astounding story of the War of 1812, when a tiny, battle-tested team of American commanders, seamen, and privateers took on the haughty skippers of the mighty Royal Navy, defeated them time and again, and played a key role in winning the conflict that cemented America’s newly won independence. When war broke out in 1812, America’s prospects looked dismal. With the young republic’s merchantmen facing increasing harassment from the British navy on the high seas, it was clear that the ocean would be the war’s primary battlefield — but America’s navy, only twenty ships strong, faced a practiced British fleet of more than a thousand men-of-war. Still, through a combination of nautical deftness and sheer bravado, a handful of heroic captains — men like Oliver Hazard Perry, Stephen Decatur, John Rodgers, and Isaac Hull — and their stalwart crews managed to take the fight to the British, turning the tide of the war: on the Great Lakes, in the Atlantic, and even in the eastern Pacific. Drawing on a wealth of archival research, Daughan thrillingly details the pitched naval battles that shaped the war, and shows how American naval efforts dovetailed with — and often salvaged — the U.S. Army’s troubled campaigns ashore. By the war’s end in 1815, no American could question the navy’s vital role in preserving the nation’s independence and safeguarding its interests, both at home and across the globe. A stunning contribution to military and national history, 1812: The Navy’s War is the first complete account in more than a century of how the U.S. Navy rescued the fledgling nation and secured America’s future.
Contents: Roots of war — Free trade and sailors’ rights — Jefferson’s embargo and the slide toward war — Madison’s strategy — The United States declares war — Blue-water victories — The Constitution and the Guerriere — Ripe apples and bitter fruit: the Canadian invasion — Canadian disasters accumulate — More blue-water victories — The Constitution and the Java — A sea change — Napoleon and Alexander — The Canadian invasion resumes — The Chesapeake and the Shannon — Raids in Chesapeake Bay — Oliver Hazard Perry and Lake Erie — Attack on Montreal — The war at sea in 1813 — The allies and Napoleon — British and American war plans — The British blockade — The Essex — Burning Washington — The war at sea continues in 1814 — Negotiations begin at Ghent — Baltimore — Plattsburg — A peace treaty — The Hartford Convention — New Orleans — An amazing change — A new era — From temporary armistice to lasting peace: the importance of the war.
The Year of Decision: 1846
De Voto, Bernard Augustine
Boston: Houghton Mifflin 1950 Dewey Dec. 973.5
“‘Year of Decision 1846’ tells many fascinating stories of the U.S. explorers who began the western march from the Mississippi to the Pacific, from Canada to the annexation of Texas, California, and the southwest lands from Mexico. It is the penultimate book of a trilogy which includes ‘Across the Wide Missouri’ (for which DeVoto won both the Pulitzer and Bancroft prizes) and ‘The Course of Empire’. DeVoto’s narrative covers the expanding Western frontier, the Mormons, the Donner party, Fremont’s exploration, the Army of the West, and takes readers into Native American tribal life.” -Publisher.
Antislavery; the Crusade for Freedom in America
Dumond, Dwight L.
University of Michigan 1961 Dewey Dec. 973.6
“This work of dedicated scholarship and immense learning reveals with extraordinary force the truth behind the Civil War. Year by year slavery in the U.S. became more sinister. It contaminated the body politic, it tainted all institutional life, it became a colossus of arbitrary power and greed.” – Publisher
“Here, in one volume, is contained enough evidence, enough information to wipe segregation from our land. It is fascinating, though at times cruel reading. But it is factual. It has the force of a sledge hammer. I defy anyone to read this book without cringing with shame and embarrassment. It is a must reading for all Americans, North and South.” – Historian Benjamin Fine.
Slavemaster President: The Double Career of James Polk
Dusinberre, William
Oxford Univ. 2003 Dewey Dec. 973.6
James K. Polk held the office of President from 1845 to 1849, a period when the expansion of slavery into the territories emerged as a pressing question in American politics. During his presidency, the slave period of Texas was annexed and the future of slavery in the Mexican Cession was debated. Polk also owned a substantial cotton plantation in northern Mississippi and 54 slaves. He was an absentee master who had a string of overseers or agents manage his plantation and did not visit his estate while he was in the White House. In this book, William Dusinberre reconstructs the world of Polk’s estate and the lives of his slaves, and analyzes how Polk’s experience as a slavemaster conditioned his stance towards slavery-related issues. Dusinberre argues that Polk’s policies helped precipitate the civil war he had sought to avert.
Contents: A market for labor power — Flight (I) Tennessee — Flight (II) the Mississippi planation — Profit — The nature of the regime — The spirit of governance — Births and deaths — Family and community — Privileges — Polk’s early response to the antislavery movement — Texas and the Mexican War — Slavery and Union — Alternatives.
Founders and Frontiersmen; Historic Places Commemorating Early Nationhood and the Westward Movement, 1783-1828
Ferris, Robert G., ed.
U.S. Dept of the Interior, National Park Service 1967 Dewey Dec. 973.5
Volume 7 in The National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings.
The book is divided into two parts. Part I, “Founders and Frontiersmen: Historical Background” is a 90-page history of the period. Part II, “Founders and Frontiersmen: Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings” covers roughly 140 historic sites, providing a description of each site, historical background, status as a designated historical landmark, and for many sites, photos.
Prospector, Cowhand, and Sodbuster: Historic Places Associated with the Mining, Ranching, and Farming Frontiers in the Trans-Mississippi West
Ferris, Robert G., ed.
U.S. Dept. of Interior, National Park Service 1967 Dewey Dec. 973.6
This is a volume in the series, “The National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings”. Part I: Prospector, Cowhand, and Sodbuster: Historical Background; Part II: Prospector, Cowhand, and Sodbuster: Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings. Over 200 sites are profiled in Part II.
The settlement of the portion of the America west of the Mississippi essentially began in 1803 with the Louisiana purchase. This book covers the settlement of the west throughout much of the 19th century, providing information about historically significant or representative buildings and sites that have been preserved.
Soldier and Brave: Historic Places Associated with Indian Affairs and the Indian Wars in the Trans-Mississippi West
Ferris, Robert G., ed.
U.S. Dept. of Interior, National Park Service 1971 Dewey Dec. 973.6
This is a volume in the series, “The National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings”.
“The sites and buildings described in this volume represent a colorful phase of American history. Yet, it was a tragic era. It has also been distorted in the popular mind by television and motion picture presentations. Visits to pertinent historic sites will do much to dispel the myths associated with the period and contribute to better understanding of its complexities.” -Director, National Park Service
Part I: Soldier and Brave: Historical Background. Part II: Soldier and Brave: Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings. Over 200 sites are profiled and described.
Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: the Ideology of the Republican Party before the Civil War
Foner, Eric
Oxford University 1979 Dewey Dec. 973.6
“An indispensable contribution to our understanding of the causes of the American Civil War. A key work in establishing political ideology as a major concern of modern American historians, it remains the only full-scale evaluation of the ideas of the early Republican party… By a careful analysis of the attitudes of leading factions in the [Republican] party’s formation (northern Whigs, former Democrats, and political abolitionists) Foner is able to show what each contributed to Republican ideology. He also shows how northern ideas of human rights–in particular a man’s right to work where and how he wanted, and to accumulate property in his own name–and the goals of American society were implicit in that ideology.” -Publisher
Contents: Free labor: the Republicans and northern society — The Republican critique of the south — Salmon P. Chase: the constitution and the slave power — The radicals: anti-slavery politics and the moral imperative — The Democratic Republicans — Conservatives and moderates — The Republicans and nativism — The Republicans and race — Slavery and the Republican ideology.
Prologue to Conflict, the Crisis and Compromise of 1850
Hamilton, Holman
University of Kentucky 1964 Dewey Dec. 973.6
The crisis facing the United States in 1850 was a dramatic prologue to the conflict that came a decade later. The rapid opening of western lands demanded the speedy establishment of local civil administration for these vast regions. Outraged partisans, however, cried of coercion: Southerners saw a threat to the precarious sectional balance, and Northerners feared an extension of slavery. In this definitive study, Holman Hamilton analyzes the complex events of the anxious months from December, 1849, when the Senate debates began, until September, 1850, when Congress passed the measures.
What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848
Howe, Daniel Walker
Oxford Univ. 2007 Dewey Dec. 973.5
“In this Pulitzer prize-winning, critically acclaimed addition to the series ‘Oxford History of the United States’, historian Daniel Walker Howe illuminates the period from the battle of New Orleans to the end of the Mexican-American War, an era when the United States expanded to the Pacific and won control over the richest part of the North American continent. Howe’s panoramic narrative portrays revolutionary improvements in transportation and communications that accelerated the extension of the American empire. Railroads, canals, newspapers, and the telegraph dramatically lowered travel times and spurred the spread of information. These innovations prompted the emergence of mass political parties and stimulated America’s economic development from an overwhelmingly rural country to a diversified economy in which commerce and industry took their place alongside agriculture. In his story, the author weaves together political and military events with social, economic, and cultural history.” -Publisher
Contents: Prologue : The defeat of the past — 1. The continental setting — 2. From the jaws of defeat — 3. An era of good and bad feelings — 4. The world that cotton made — 5. Awakenings of religion — 6. Overthrowing the tyranny of distance — 7. The improvers — 8. Pursuing the millennium — 9. Andrew Jackson and his age — 10. Battles over sovereignty — 11. Jacksonian democracy and the rule of law — 12. Reason and revelation — 13. Jackson’s third term — 14. The new economy — 15. The Whigs and their age — 16. American renaissance — 17. Texas, Tyler, and the telegraph — 18. Westward the star of empire — 19.The war against Mexico — 20. The revolutions of 1848 — Finale : A vision of the future — Bibliographical essay.
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Daily Life on the Nineteenth Century American Frontier
Jones, Mary Ellen
Greenwood 1998 Dewey Dec. 973.5
This study examines the daily lives of ordinary men and women who flooded into the Trans-Mississippi West in search of land, fortune, a fresh start, and a new identity. Their daily life was rarely easy. If they were to survive, they had to adapt to the land and modify every aspect of their lives, from housing to transportation, from education to defense, from food gathering and preparation to the establishment of rudimentary laws and social structures. They also had to adapt to the Native Americans already on the land–whether through acculturation, warfare, or coexistence.
Jones provides insight into the experiences that affected the daily lives of the diverse people who inhabited the American frontier: the Native Americans, trappers, explorers, ranchers, homesteaders, soldiers and townspeople. This fascinating book gives a sense of the extraordinary ordinariness of surviving, prospering, failing, and dying in a new land; and explores how these westering Americans inevitably displaced those already bound to the land by tradition, culture, and religion.
Contents: The American frontier : simple stereotype, complex reality — Life on the fur frontier — Life on the explorers’ frontier — Life on the miners’ frontier : the new Eldorado — Life on the land : Alien exotics-cowboys and settlers — The Indian frontier and the frontier regulars : the army and the Indians on the Great Plains.
Speeches and Writings, 1832-1858
Lincoln, Abraham
Literary Classics of the U.S. 1989 Dewey Dec. 973.5
A collection of over 240 speeches, letters, and drafts written by Abraham Lincoln between 1832 and 1858, the period during which he progressed from rural lawyer to the office of President of the United States. Based on the 8-volume “Collected Works” edited by Basler et al., contains all seven of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, as well as speeches that attacked the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and ‘squatter sovereignty’ in the territories.
The Nebraska Question, 1852-1854
Malin, James C.
Edward Brothers 1953 Dewey Dec. 973.6
Contents: Motives of Stephen A. Douglas in the organization of Nebraska Territory – Introduction to northwestern Missouri – Election of 1852 – Western Issues, 1852-1853 – Nebraska Boomer movement and the Pacific Railroad – Fillmore-Pierce Interregnum: Nebraska Question and the Pacific Railroad in Congress, 1852-1853 – Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and the new slavery agitation – Nebraska momentum, March-November 1853 – Immediate settlement: the Boomer movement gained momentum – Proviisonal Government of Nebraska, 1853 – Nebraska Delegate Convention at St. Joseph, Missouri, Jan. 9-10, 1854 – Convention in session, and aftermath – The Nebraska and Kansas Bill in Congress, 1854 – Local Missouri Politics: political party dissension and mandate, 1854 – Beginnings in Kansas and Nebraska – Epilogue: The implication of the mechanization of society during the mid-nineteenth century.
Society in America
– Volume 2
Martineau, Harriet
Saunders & Otley 1837 Dewey Dec. 973.5
Harriet Martineau (1802-1876) was an English social theorist and Whig writer, often cited as the first female sociologist. This book resulted from a two-year stay in America, where she traveled through some 23 states and territories; normally by stagecoach, but sometimes on foot. She provided an entertaining travel account as well as thoughtful observations on Americans and American institutions. She is often critical of the inconsistencies she found between America’s democratic ideals and the restraints on African-Americans and women.
See our post with Historical Novels Set in the American South
The Monroe Doctrine and American Expansionism, 1843-1849
Merk, Frederick
Knopf 1966 Dewey Dec. 973.6
“[This book] describes the thesis persistently advanced by Presidents John Tyler and James K. Polk that United States expansion into neighboring territory was necessary as a means of defense—to make secure vital national interests against aggression or interference by European powers. Drawing on documentation from many new sources, Mr. Merk points out the application of this thesis by the expansionists to the acquisition of Texas, Oregon, and California and to unsuccessful attempts to acquire Yucatån and Cuba. In each case James Monroe’s famous message to Congress in 1823 was cited to justify expansion.” -Publisher.
Contents: Prologue – Foreign interference in Texas – Balance of power – British intruders in Oregon – British eyes on California – The true boundary – European intervention in the Mexican War? – Yucatan and the Mare Clausum – British designs on Cuba – Reflections.
Ordeal of the Union: Fruits of Manifest Destiny, 1847-1852
Nevins, Allan
Scribner 1947 Dewey Dec. 973.6
Vol 1 of “Ordeal of the Union”.
The Compromise of 1850 is the major political issue in this volume. “But Allan Nevins has not restricted his interests to the political scene. Every aspect of American life is touched upon, including the state of education, popular culture, religion, and the impulse toward reform. Most important of all the reform movements was the anti-slavery campaign. Here Allan Nevins shows both his fairmindedness and his talents as a chronicler of the times.” -Book jacket
Contents: Hour of victory – Lineaments of a young Republic – Culture of the masses – The Pulse of reform -“For These Just Ends” – Election of a war hero – The gathering quarrel – Clay to the rescue – The great debate -“The Union Stands Firm” – Southern acquiescence – with conditions – Northern acquiescence – with reservations – The lot of the bondsman – The cash account of slavery – Slavery, race-adjustment, and the future – Brother Jonathan asserts himself. American history book pdf, U.S. history pdf download.
Ordeal of the Union: A House Divided, 1852-1857
Nevins, Allan
Scribner 1947 Dewey Dec. 973.6
Vol 2 of “Ordeal of the Union”.
“Although politics dominates this volume, Allan Nevins has not overlooked the development of our agriculture, our industry, and our railroads; he also reveals the condition of our labor force and of immigration. In other words, this is the most complete picture to date of America in the years from 1852 to 1857.” – Book jacket
Contents: Enter the pleasant Mr. Pierce – Weak president: rending factions – Disaster: 1854 – Fountains of the Great Deep – Two blades of grass – Web of transport – The rising industrialism – Immigrants and toilers – Kansas and the break-up of parties – Cuba, Ostend, and the Filibusters – The Year of violence: 1855 – Crisis in Kansas and Washington – Onset of ’56 – The election of Buchanan – Contrast of cultures. American history book pdf, U.S. history pdf download.
Polk: The Diary of a President
Covering the Mexican War, the Acquisition of Oregon, and the Conquest of California and the Southwest
Nevins, Allan, ed.
Longmans, Green 1952 Dewey Dec. 973.6
This volume consists of material selected from the 4-volume “Diary of James K. Polk During His Presidency, 1845 to 1849”, edited by Milo Quaife in 1910. This editor … “has attempted to select from it the portions most interesting and valuable to ordinary students and readers, and to knit them together by a full body of notes.” – Preface.
Days of Sorrow, Years of Glory, 1831-1850
From the Nat Turner Revolt to the Fugitive Slave Law
Paulson, Timothy J.
Chelsea House 1994 Dewey Dec. 973.5
An examination of the Underground Railroad, slave resistance, the Seminole Wars, & the abolition movement. Among the milestone events for this era that open this book are the efforts of abolitionists, the Seminole Wars, the slave revolt on the Amistad, the publication of the North Star by Frederick Douglass, & the efforts of Harriet Tubman on the Underground Railroad. These events & others are expanded in the following chapters. Bibliography & index. Part of the Milestones in Black American History series.
Contents: Two decades of struggle – Blood on the corn – Way down in Egypt land – The Underground railroad – “This Savage and negro War” – “Frederick, Is God Dead?” – The Fugitive Slave Law.
American Eras: The Reform Era and Eastern U.S. Development, 1815-1850
Prokopowicz, Gerald J., ed.
Gale 1997 Dewey Dec. 973.5
Reference book, providing encyclopedia-like articles and lists of events arranged under these chapter headings: World Events, the Arts, Business and the Economy, Communications, Education, Government and Politics, Law and Justice, Lifestyles, Social Trends & Fashion, Religion, Science & Medicine, and Sports & Recreation.