National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Cult of Domesticity: Catharine E. Beecher
A chapter from Catherine Beecher's book, "A Treatise on Domestic Economy for the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School." Read how it contributes to the understanding of the American identity.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Harriet Jacobs: "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl," 1861
Several chapters from a slave narrative by Harriet Jacobs examining her abuse, her integrity, and her eventual escape from brutality, all of which raise important questions about power, equality, and gender roles in the mid-nineteenth...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Cult of Domesticity: Fanny Fern: Fern Leaves From Fanny's Portfolio
Short periodical pieces that examine the complex and challenging roles that women found thrust upon them in mid-nineteenth century American culture. Discussion questions are provided.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Cult of Domesticity: Godey's Lady's Book, 1850
Published for much of the nineteenth century, Godey's Lady's Book provides a tapestry of differing images about the roles of women and of issues that concerned them. Discussion questions are provided.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Cult of Domesticity: Theodore Parker: Of the Function of Woman
A sermon by a Unitarian minister who argues that women have a positive role to play in American life and that isolating them within a domestic sphere loses the power of what they can contribute. Discussion questions are provided.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Reading Guide: Elizabeth Cady Stanton: "Seneca Falls Address"
A powerful call for women's rights, particularly for suffrage, expressed in the "Declaration of Sentiments" and issued at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Includes discussion questions.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: William Cullen Bryant and Philip Freneau
Two poems examining divinity and concluding that while God is benevolent, one appreciates God either through a romantic lens or a rationalist calculation. Poems are William Cullen Bryant's, "To a Waterfowl," and Philip Freneau's, "On the...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Religion: John Mayfield
Primary resource of John Mayfield, as he discusses civic life, religion and the growth of American democracy in an excerpt from "Toward the Millennium," ch. 8 in The New Nation: 1800-1845, 1982 (rev. ed.)
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: De Tocqueville, Triumph of Nationalism: America, 1815 1850
Three essays from the famous French visitor to America, Alexis de Tocqueville, in which he examines how religion in early nineteenth century America supported democratic tendencies.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Religion: Frederick Douglass
The National Humanities Center presents collections of primary resources compatible with the Common Core State Standards - historical documents, literary texts, and works of art - thematically organized with notes and discussion...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Religion: Henry David Thoreau
The National Humanities Center presents collections of primary resources compatible with the Common Core State Standards - historical documents, literary texts, and works of art - thematically organized with notes and discussion...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Expansion: Triumph of Nationalism: America, 1815 1850
A collection of eight primary resources--historical documents, literary texts, visual images, maps--illuminated and contextualized by notes, thematic questions, and text-specific discussion questions for classroom instruction and teacher...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Charles Sellers: Triumph of Nationalism: America, 1815 1850
A secondary account from a contemporary historian that examines early nineteenth century forces and the interplay of markets and territorial expansion.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Hezekiah Niles: Triumph of Nationalism: America, 1815 1850
Magazine excerpts that celebrate the government sponsored internal improvements of the early nineteenth century and the market economy that they fueled.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Lewis Cass: Triumph of Nationalism: America, 1815 1850
An argument by the Michigan Territorial governor, Lewis Cass, that claimed state laws superseded the rights claimed by Native American tribes like the Cherokee.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: James G. Baldwin: Triumph of Nationalism: America, 1815 1850
An essay that describes the exuberant life of a frontier society with all its corruption, violence, vitality, and opportunity.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Henry David Thoreau, Excerpts From "Economy," Ch. 1 of Walden, 1854
A chapter from Walden that critiques and challenges the new market economy of the nineteenth century.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: America in 1850: John C. Calhoun
Collection of primary resources on Nationalism, John C. Calhoun on the Clay Compromise Measures, and U.S. Senate, March 4, 1850. Thematically organized with notes and discussion questions.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Toolbox: America in 1850: Daniel Webster
The National Humanities Center presents collections of primary resources compatible with the Common Core State Standards including Daniel Webster, Speech to the United States Senate, March 7, 1850.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: America in 1850: Henry Clay
Collection of primary resource material includes Henry Clay's, "A General Review of the Debate on the Compromise Bills," U.S. Senate, July 22, 1850. With questions for discussion.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: The Gilded and the Gritty: America, 1870 1912
Ninety-four primary sources-historical documents, literary texts, and visual images-that explore the challenges, opportunity, and turmoil of late-nineteenth-century America. They examine the economic expansion in an America re-united...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Memory, the Gilded and the Gritty: America, 1870 1912
Twelve primary sources - historical documents, literary texts, and visual images - that explore ways in which the memory of the Civil War affected American life in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Veteran, the Gilded and the Gritty: America, 1870 1912
A poignant Winslow Homer painting (1865) that suggests the psychic state of Civil War veterans.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: "Prisoner," the Gilded and the Gritty: America, 1870 1912
Joel Chandler Harris's short story, "Aunt Fountain's Prisoner", that depicts a successful triumph over the challenges of reuniting a country divided by Civil War.