Explore the unique culture of 1800s America with this collection of articles! Learn about daily life and events of the time period.
The 1800s was a time of immense change and growth in the United States. During this period, America saw rapid industrialization and technological advancements, social reforms, and growth in population both within the country’s borders and through immigration. In these articles, we will explore the lives of Americans during this period, as well as some of the major events that occurred throughout the century.
1874 Railway Schedule, before the U.S. had Standard Time Zones
Guide to Baltimore & Ohio railroad
See the Menu at the top of every page for Directories of Free Online Fiction and NonFiction Books, Magazines, and more, on 400 pages like this at Century Past
A Brief History of Children Sent Through the Mail
In the early days of the parcel post, some parents took advantage of the mail in unexpected ways
Danny Lewis, smithsonian.com June 14, 2016 | Updated: December 21, 2016
Library Research Guide (LibGuide) – Internet Sites with Primary Sources for U.S. History
This research guide from the librarians at Bowling Green State University has links to websites with substantial collections of online primary sources for U.S. history.
A Graceful Exit
In one momentous decision, Robert E. Lee spared the United States years of divisive violence
Jay Winik, American Heritage 2009
A journey to Ohio in 1810
As recorded in the journal of Margaret Van Horn Dwight
A journey to Ohio in 1810, as recorded in the journal of Margaret Van Horn Dwight
A Moose for the Misinformed: Jefferson and Natural History
Incensed that many leading European scientists had belittled North America’s climate and fauna, Thomas Jefferson shipped them evidence and published a long reply in Notes on the State of Virginia.
Mark Coburn, American Heritage 2017
A Texas Cattleman & His Comanche Concubine
Richard Selcer, HistoryNet 2017
Although Less Deadly Than Crinolines, Bustles Were Still a Pain in the Behind
Kat Eschner, smithsonian.com April 21, 2017
An Anarchist Manifesto by Louisa Sarah Bevington 1895
libcom.org 2017
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Andrew Johnson: Path to Impeachment
Pieces of History, National Archives 2018
Chief Engineer: The Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge review – in praise of New York’ master builder
Julian Glover, The Guardian 2017
Crime as Entertainment in the 19th century
Anna Mazzola, The History Girls 2016
Fort Sumter Falls
Account by the Deputy Commander at Fort Sumter of the first battle of the Civil War.
Abner Doubleday, Journal of American Heritage 2011
How an eleventh-hour border shift kept the Chicago suburbs in Illinois
Lake County Daily Herald 2017
List of Automobile Manufacturers in the U.S. in 1899
Horseless vehicles; automobiles, motor cycles operated by steam, hydro-carbon, electric and pneumatic motors 1900
Old French Traditions
French-Canadian residents of Detroit, observed in the early 19th century.
MichiganHistorical Collections 1876
Poor Relief in the 18th and 19th Centuries – Podcast
Marissa Rhodes, DG
Selling Sex: 19th Century New York City Prostitution and Brothels
Elizabeth Garner Masarik, DG 2017
Slavery a Positive Good
1854 article by a radical Missouri advocate of slavery.
American history told by contemporaries 1898-1929
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The Brief Period, 200 Years Ago, When American Politics Was Full of ‘Good Feelings’
James Monroe’s 1817 goodwill tour kicked off a decade of party-less government – but he couldn’t stop the nation from dividing again
Erick Trickey, smithsonian.com July 17, 2017
The Chicago Fire of 1871 and the ‘Great Rebuilding’
National Geographic
The Conquerers: A New 19th-Century History Focuses on American Imperialism –
Brenda Wineapple, NY Times 2016
The Know Nothing platform 1855
Schoenberg Center
American Populism 1876-1896: Origins & Agendas
Dr. Charles Postel, Northern Illinois University Library Digital Initiatives 2009
Building the Erie Canal
Janice Fontanella, Ben Franklin’s World, Episode 28
Selling Sex: 19th Century New York City Prostitution and Brothels – DIG
Elizabeth Garner Masarik, DG 2017
The Oregon Trail
Rinker Buck, Ben Franklin’s World, Episode 077:
How Salt Helped Win the Civil War
Southern salt-making operations became prime military targets.
Anne Ewbank, Atlas Obscura 2018
John Kelly is wrong: Slavery, not lack of compromise, caused the Civil War
The United States tried compromise for 70 years. It didn’t work.
Frank Cirillo, Washington Post 2017
The Confederate commander behind one of the greatest ‘what ifs’ of the Civil War
J.E.B. Stuart
Debbie Truong, Washington Post 2018
The Women Who Fought in the Civil War
Hundreds of women concealed their identities so they could battle alongside their Union and Confederate counterparts.
Jess Righthand, Smithsonian Magazine 2011
Ordinances of Secession and Other Documents 1860-1861
The reasons the southern states gave for leaving the Union, in the original documents.
Women Spies of the Civil War
Hundreds of women served as spies during the Civil War. Here’s a look at six who risked their lives in daring and unexpected ways.
Smithsonian Magazine 2011
Mangled by a Shell: A tattered photograph tells a grim story
A year after his regiment’s ill-fated charge at Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862, Oliver Dart Jr. faced another great trial, sitting for a photograph at a studio on Main Street in Hartford, Conn. A mangled lower jaw, mouth, and nose—the awful effects of a shrapnel wound suffered during the attack on Marye’s Heights—are obvious. How Dart summoned the fortitude to sit for the CDV, undoubtedly evidence for his pension claim, is remarkable.
John Banks, History Net 2018
The North tried compromise. The South chose war.
The South’s insistence upon protecting and spreading slavery caused the Civil War.
Carole Emberton, Washington Post 2017
What It Was Like To Be an African-American during the Civil War
What was it like to be one of the 186,017 African Americans who served in the Union Army during the Civil War?
Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily 2016
Why The Civil War Still Matters
One hundred and fifty years after the guns began shelling Fort Sumter this April, Americans remain fascinated with the Civil War. Why do we care about a war that ended so long ago?
James M. McPherson, American Heritage 2011
Abraham Lincoln Meets Frederick Douglass
Today it seems unthinkable but in August 1863—the summer of Gettysburg and Vicksburg and the bloody New York draft riots—anybody could walk into the White House and ask to meet the president. On the sweltering morning of August 10, one of Lincoln’s uninvited visitors was Frederick Douglass, a tall, burly black man dressed in a dark suit and a high-collared white shirt. He had no appointment.
Peter Carlson, HistoryNet 2011
In the Early 19th Century, Firefighters Fought Fires … and Each Other
Fighting fires in early America was about community, property and rivalry
Jackson Landers, Smithsonian Magazine 2016
Five myths about Reconstruction
“As W.E.B. Du Bois put it in “Black Reconstruction” 80 years ago, that “one cannot study Reconstruction without first frankly facing the facts of universal lying.” Here are five common fallacies that Americans still tell themselves about this formative period.”
James Loewen, Washington Post 2016
A big day in history: A speck of glitter triggers the California Gold Rush
Dominic Sandbrook explores the events of 24 January 1848.
Dominic Sandbrook, History Extra 2913
How American ‘Dollar Princesses’ Invaded British High Society
During the Gilded Age, marrying British aristocrats was seen as a way for American heiresses to raise their social status.
Erin Blakemore, History.com 2019
How Abraham Lincoln solved his ‘deep state’ problem
Numerous U.S. presidents were frustrated and sometimes bamboozled by members of their own staff — few more so than Abraham Lincoln, who found effective ways of confronting dissent.
Dillon Carroll, Washington Post 2018
On this day in history, outlaw Jesse James took a bullet to the brain
If there is anything to be learned from the death of Jesse James on April 3, 1882, it is this: If you see a picture hanging crooked on a wall, and there is a bounty on your head, leave the picture alone.
Michael S. Rosenwald, Washington Post 2017
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Collected Historical Photos of the US
Collected Historical Maps of the US
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