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History - American — page 27
1,581 public-domain history - american books, summarised. Page 27 of 33.

The American Missionary
Various
Across the late-nineteenth-century American landscape, churches and schools rise from the ashes of war to forge a new path of education and spiritual revival.

The Great Conspiracy, Volume 1
John Alexander Logan
This dense historical account chronicles the systematic efforts of pro-slavery politicians to dismantle the American Union, tracing the origins of the Civil War from the earliest days of the Republic to the mid-1860s.

The Journal of Prison Discipline and Philanthropy (New Series, No. 3, January 1864)
Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons
Behind the stone walls of mid-nineteenth-century Philadelphia, dedicated reformers navigate the heavy human toll of poverty, intemperance, and flawed justice to redeem lost souls.

Sometub's cruise on the C. & O. canal
John Pryor Cowan
Trailing behind mules on a homemade motorboat, two travelers trade the modern world for the slow rhythms of America’s oldest canal.

A History of the Second Division Naval Militia Connecticut National Guard
Daniel Doane Bidwell
Salt spray, steady discipline, and patriotic devotion forged a dedicated group of Connecticut citizens into a formidable naval militia at the turn of the twentieth century.

Stephen H. Branch's Alligator, Vol. 1 no. 21, September 11, 1858
Unknown
This publication captures the biting wit and political chaos of 1858 New York, serving as a raw, unfiltered dispatch from a city obsessed with telegraphy, graft, and theatrical public spectacles.

The American Missionary
Various
This collection of reports and editorials offers a candid look at the late-19th-century American missionary landscape, detailing the struggles, logistical realities, and ideological tensions of the era’s religious and social reform efforts.

The Church In Politics—Americans Beware!
M. M. (Mangasar Mugurditch) Mangasarian
The church and the state cannot mix, for a supernatural power must always swallow the human constitution it touches.

The Negro and the nation
Hubert H. Harrison
The American racial hierarchy is not a natural or immutable condition, but a calculated instrument of economic exploitation designed to keep the working class divided against itself.

Two Decades: A History of the First Twenty Years' Work of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of the State of New York
Frances W. Graham
This chronicle documents the first two decades of a powerful grassroots movement, tracking the rise of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in New York from local prayer groups to a statewide political force.

Ye Olde Mint: Being a brief description of the first U.S. Mint, established by Congress in the year 1792, at Seventh Street and Sugar Alley (now Filbert Street) Philadelphia
Frank H. Stewart
This account documents the humble origins of the first United States Mint, a modest Philadelphia site where the nation’s earliest coins were struck under the watchful eye of George Washington.

Historical Record of the Seventy-Second Regiment, or the Duke of Albany's Own Highlanders: Containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1778, and of its subsequent services to 1848
Richard Cannon
This chronicle maps the evolution and deployment of a renowned British infantry unit, tracing the regiment’s global trajectory from its Highland inception in 1778 through seven decades of service across three continents.

History of the Constitutions of Iowa
Benjamin Franklin Shambaugh
The political architecture of a frontier territory emerges through the intense, often contentious process of shaping statehood. This account traces the evolution of Iowa’s governing principles from unregulated pioneer settlements to the adoption of a formal state constitution.

House of John Procter, Witchcraft Martyr, 1692
William P. (William Phineas) Upham
The search for a final resting place becomes an act of historical reclamation, tracing the forgotten land of a man condemned by the 1692 witchcraft trials. This study maps the boundaries of a life cut short.

Stephen H. Branch's Alligator, Vol. 1 no. 23, September 25, 1858
Unknown
A defiant editor, imprisoned for libel, chronicles his personal history, political struggles, and moral philosophy through the pages of a singular, embattled weekly publication.

The American Missionary
Various
This periodical captures the urgent, practical, and often embattled spirit of nineteenth-century home missions, documenting the expansion of church-led education across the American South, the frontier, and beyond.

The American Missionary
Various
This periodical serves as a vital historical record of late-19th-century American mission work, documenting the religious and social efforts of a prominent Congregationalist organization during a pivotal era of post-Civil War reconstruction.

The boy's book of battle-lyrics
Thomas Dunn English
These verses transform the dry annals of American history into a vivid, rhythmic parade of heroism, carnage, and personal sacrifice. They offer a front-row seat to the nation's most violent moments, told through the eyes of those who fought.

A Journey to America in 1834
Robert Heywood
A quiet, methodical record of early nineteenth-century travel, this journal observes a rapidly expanding young republic through the exact, unhurried eyes of an English visitor.

After Taps
George M. (George Melville) Baker
This dramatic work centers on the shifting loyalties and hidden conspiracies within a Civil War-era household, where honor and truth are tested by the influence of a calculating deceiver. It captures the tension of a family torn apart by war, suspicion, and a persistent, dangerous ambition.

Modern Industrialism and the Negroes of the United States: The American Negro Academy, Occasional Papers No. 12
Archibald Henry Grimké
This incisive analysis explores how the economic evolution of the United States, specifically the rise of modern industrialism, fundamentally dictated the history and future prospects of African Americans within the republic.

Stories of Cape Cod
Jack Johnson
This collection of vignettes captures the spirit of Cape Cod by weaving together the region’s maritime foundations, its eccentric local legends, and its surprising contributions to American industry and war efforts. It serves as a documentary mosaic, preserving the stories of the people and the landscape that…

The Battle of Bunkers-Hill
H. H. (Hugh Henry) Brackenridge
On a sun-baked height above Boston, a handful of colonial militia faces the disciplined ranks of an empire, transforming a desperate defensive stand into a defining cry for political independence.

The Mormons: A Discourse Delivered Before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Thomas L. (Thomas Leiper) Kane
A firsthand account of the forced exodus of the Latter-day Saints, this narrative captures a moment of profound displacement in American history with surprising empathy and keen observation.

The Panama Canal Conflict between Great Britain and the United States of America: A Study
L. (Lassa) Oppenheim
A scholarly examination of the legal friction between Great Britain and the United States regarding tolls for the newly constructed Panama Canal.

The Review, Vol. 1, No. 8, August 1911
Various
This archival document captures a pivotal moment in American penal history, documenting the emergence of parole and probation as compassionate, data-driven alternatives to the harsh, traditional incarceration models of the early twentieth century.

The Story of the Kearsarge and Alabama
A. K. Browne
The duel between the Kearsarge and the Alabama remains one of the most famous naval engagements of the American Civil War. This account captures the tension, the tactical precision, and the controversial aftermath of that fateful Sunday.

The Westward Movement 1832-1889
Unknown
The American frontier was not a single, steady march, but a series of desperate struggles, accidental discoveries, and rapid transformations that reshaped a continent in less than sixty years. This collection of firsthand accounts captures the grit and volatility of that expansion, from the frozen passes of the…

In the brush
Hamilton W. (Hamilton Wilcox) Pierson
A nineteenth-century missionary traverses the rugged, unmapped wilderness of the American Southwest, documenting the lives, spiritual struggles, and curious customs of a people isolated by geography and deep-seated social divides.

New York
James Fenimore Cooper
Natural geography and sheer commercial momentum can propel a city to global preeminence, even as political factions degrade the republic around it.

The Bullitt Mission to Russia: Testimony before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, of William C. Bullitt
William C. (William Christian) Bullitt
An intimate, high-stakes record of a missed opportunity, these pages capture the precise moment when the Allied powers chose military intervention over a diplomatic peace with the young Soviet state.

The Education of the Negro
Charles Dudley Warner
The national challenge of integrating millions of formerly enslaved people into American citizenship requires a sober, long-term approach grounded in industrial training rather than superficial academic instruction. This analysis argues that the path to true progress lies in prioritizing character-building and…

The Fourth Massachusetts Cavalry in the Closing Scenes of the War for the Maintenance of the Union, from Richmond to Appomatox
La Salle Corbell Pickett
The Fourth Massachusetts Cavalry occupies a unique place in the final, frantic days of the American Civil War. This account captures the regiment’s pivotal role in the liberation of Richmond and the desperate, decisive skirmish at High Bridge.

The Pennsylvania Journal of Prison Discipline and Philanthropy (Vol. IV, No. II, April 1849)
Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons
This mid-nineteenth-century periodical offers a rare, primary-source window into the rigorous, often clinical, and deeply earnest efforts of early American prison reformers to transform the nation’s penal system.

The Wars Between England and America
Theodore Clarke Smith
A continuous half-century of political, economic, and military collision shapes the birth of the American republic. The story of its separation from Great Britain is a long narrative of clashing interests, failed compromises, and reluctant conflict.

A History of the Trial of Castner Hanway and Others, for Treason, at Philadelphia in November, 1851: With an Introduction upon the History of the Slave Question
Member of the Philadelphia bar
The Christiana Riot and the subsequent treason trials stand as a pivotal confrontation between federal slave laws and the local conscience of a divided nation. This account examines how a deadly clash over human property pushed the United States to the brink of dissolution.

Achenwall's Observations on North America
Gottfried Achenwall
A candid, mid-18th-century portrait of the British colonies in North America, distilled through the keen observations of a German scholar listening to the insights of Benjamin Franklin.

Brothers in arms
E. Alexander (Edward Alexander) Powell
HOOK This urgent appeal, published in 1917, captures the seismic shift in American national identity as the country finally commits its full strength to the Great War.

The American Missionary
Various
This periodical captures a distinct moment at the turn of the twentieth century, documenting the ambitious reach of American religious and educational expansion both at home and abroad. It serves as a primary record of how institutional zeal and cultural ideals were disseminated during a period of rapid national…

The American Missionary
Various
The accounts of a nineteenth-century organization reveal how religious conviction and ambitious educational goals drove a vast network of social and mission work across a rapidly changing American landscape.

The Seat of Empire
Charles Carleton Coffin
This travelogue captures the optimism of a nation looking westward in 1870, charting a vast, untapped landscape destined to become the heart of a continental empire.

The southern literary messenger, Vol. I., No. 7, March, 1835
Various
This collection of writings captures the intellectual and social pulse of 1835 Virginia, offering a mosaic of historical narrative, personal correspondence, and literary critique. It serves as a vital record of the American mindset during a formative era.

The Story of "Mormonism" and The Philosophy of "Mormonism"
James E. (James Edward) Talmage
This dual work offers an authoritative, foundational explanation of Latter-day Saint history and theology, providing a primary-source perspective on the beliefs and origins of the faith. It serves as both a historical narrative and a philosophical defense for a reader interested in understanding the movement’s…

A Tour of Historic Richmond
Frances Leigh Williams
This guide navigates the intersections of time and geography in Virginia’s capital. It serves as a bridge between the city’s profound historical legacy and its identity as a modern industrial center.

Christopher Columbus and the New World of His Discovery
Filson Young
In a world swept by the wild fever of discovery, an obscure Genoese navigator risks everything on a grand geographic delusion.

Considerations on the present peace, as far as it is relative to the colonies, and the African trade
Robert Vaughan
A stark 1763 petition argues that British colonial prosperity depends entirely on securing a monopoly over the African slave trade, demanding systemic reform to crush foreign competition and ensure a steady supply of forced labor.

The American Missionary
Various
This record offers an unvarnished window into the organizational machinery and ideological priorities of a major nineteenth-century evangelical institution, documenting its expansive reach across post-Civil War America and abroad.

The Bay State Monthly, Volume 3, No. 5
Various
This collection of nineteenth-century journalism captures the spirit of New England through its public figures, local industries, and historical milestones. It serves as a time capsule of post-Civil War American identity and regional pride.