Essay answers the question, "Why did so many Catholics come to the United States at this time?" The potato famine, urban industrialization, chance for a new life, are among some of the answers.

This blog focuses on the U.S.'s need for immigration in the 19th and early 20th century to satisfy particular labor needs and increase investments.

Scholarly article discussing the trend towards urbanization in the United States and other industrialized countries in the nineteenth century.

Learn nineteenth century American art and history in this multi-disciplinary analysis of various works of art from the period.

Americans first began the custom of weekday voting in 1845, when Congress passed a federal law designating the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November as Election Day in the hope of streamlining the voting process. But why a...

By the early 19th century, the wilderness of the Ohio country had given way to settlement. The road George Washington had cut through the forest many years before, called the Braddock Road, was replaced by the National Road. Cutting...

This interesting essay traces the growth of the Knights of Labor from a group that represented those in the shoe industry in Philadelphia to a nationwide union fighting for workers' rights. It also traces other union developments over...

Today's comedy evolved from vaudeville (variety) shows of the 19th and early 20th centuries that included clowns, slapstick, dancers, singers, performing animals, acrobats, and magicians. This is an interactive site offering various...

An overview about politics and regional interests in early 19th century America.

Before Christopher Columbus came to America, the expansive territory was inhabited by Native Americans. Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, as more explorers sought to colonize their land, Native Americans responded in various...

The United States and Cuba share a long, complex history -- first as allies and trade partners, and later as bitter ideological enemies. This timeline shows how closely entwined America and Cuba have been over the last two centuries.

Discusses the intellectual atmosphere in the 1800s as America struggled to find its identity. The influences of the Enlightenment and Romanticism are described, and the ideas of various writers and philosophers.

A descriptive history of the independence movements in Europe and South America which contributed to the Spanish American Wars from the fifteenth century onward.

This clearly written account of slave cruelty from the early 19th century is a powerful classroom discussion starter.

The Industrial Revolution is a phrase that encompasses the massive changes in agriculture and manufacturing processes during the 18th and 19th centuries that transformed the United States from an agricultural to an industrial society....

Learn details of the fascinating history of the early American railroads in the 1800s including their invention, their expansion, significance, and their impact on the transportation system of America.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, explorers and travelers (mainly of European descent) in Latin America, popularized a genre called costumbrismo: the depiction of local folklore, including social "types" and genre scenes....

Urbanization brought about many changes in the social, economic, and political lives of people during the Industrial Revolution. This article sheds light on the effects of urbanization and industrialization on the common people of that...