Part 1. A growing rivalry between the North and South, 1846-1854. The Mexican War, the Wilmot Proviso, and the election of 1848 ; The Compromise of 1850 ; The fugitive slave controversy, the election of 1852, and growing sectionalism -- Part 2. Southern successes, Northern anxieties, 1854-1857. The Kansas-Nebraska Act, bleeding Kansas, and the Republican Party ; The elction of 1856 and its aftermath -- Part 3. The Union comes apart, 1857-1861. Dred Scott, Kansas, and the events of 1858 ; John Brown's raid, party conventions, the election of 1860, and secession.
Summary
Voices from the Gathering Storm explains the dramatic change in thinking about the nature and value of the American Union from 1846 to1861 which impelled citizens from 11 southern states to declare independence and the remaining 22 states to fight the bloodiest war in the nation's history. This reader tells the story of seventeen Northerners and Southerners who lived through the critical fifteen years prior to the Civil War. In their letters and diaries, they describe in their own words what it was like to live during the sectional crisis and the coming of the war. [from the publisher]
Includes bibliographical references (p. [431]-438) and index.
Contents
August 20, 1862 to March 22, 1863, Missouri -- March 28 to September 24, 1863, the Vicksburg Campaign -- October 4, 1863 to July 24, 1864, Texas and Louisiana -- July 26, 1864 to December 25, 1864, Virginia -- January 9, 1865 to August 2, 1865, South Carolina, North Carolina, Iowa.
Summary
"While there are many collections of letters from Civil War soldiers to their wives, very few include such a rich trove of letters from the homefront. Together they paint an engrossing portrait of a soldier and husband who was trying to do his patriotic and familial duty, and of a wife trying to cope with loneliness and responsibility while longing for her husband's safe return. Beautifully edited and annotated...they bring to life a nation under siege and provide a rare look at the war's impact on both the common soldier and his family." [from the book jacket]
An ironic examination of the founding years of our country. Historian Ellis guides us through the decisive issues of the nation's founding, and illuminates the emerging philosophies, shifting alliances, and personal and political foibles of our now iconic leaders. He explains how the idea of a strong federal government, championed by Washington, was eventually embraced by the American people, the majority of whom had to be won over. And he details the emergence of the two-party system--then a political novelty--which today stands as the founders' most enduring legacy. But Ellis is equally incisive about their failures, making clear how their inability to abolish slavery and to reach a just settlement with the Native Americans has played an equally important role in shaping our national character. Ellis strips the mythic veneer of the revolutionary generation to reveal men possessed of both brilliance and blindness.--From publisher description.
Rakestraw family history : the story of William Rakestraw who emigrated in 1684 from England to Pennsylvania, and his descendants, who intermarried with the Joseph Yard and Justinian Fox families, were members of the Carpenters Company of Philadelphia, and master builders of the city
Originally published: London : Pearson Education, 2003.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [327]-360) and index.
Contents
1. Inner power : Lincoln's ambition and political vision, 1809-54 -- Ambition -- Political vision -- Moral crisis : 1854 -- The religious roots of moral power -- 2. The power of opinion : Lincoln : the Illinois public and the new political order, 1854-58 -- Lincoln, democratic politics and public opinion -- Illinois public opinion and the anti-Nebraska fusion movement -- The senatorial campaign of 1858 -- 3. The power of party : winning the presidency, 1858-60 -- Presidential ambition : Lincoln, his party and the road to the Decatur convention -- The Republican presidential nomination -- The 1860 presidential campaign : the power of a righteous party -- 4. Confronting the limits of power : from president-elect to war president, 1860-61 -- In the antechamber to power : holding the party line -- From Springfield to Sumter : building a united front -- Strategies for 'a people's war' -- 'What shall I do? The people are impatient ... ' -- 5. The purposes of power : evolving objectives, 1861-65 -- Reading the public -- 'Every indispensable means' : toward the Emancipation Proclamation -- Faith and purposes -- Faithfulness of purpose : emancipation, reconstruction and black citizenship -- 6. The instruments of power : coercion and voluntary mobilization, 1861-65 -- Coercion, repression and executive power -- Popular mobilization : the 'power of the right word' and the agency of party -- Popular mobilization : churches and philanthropic organizations -- The Union army as a moral force -- The election of 1864 : 'the second birth of our nation' -- 7. Conclusion : power in death -- Chronology of Lincoln's life.
Summary
A portrait of America's sixteenth president follows Lincoln's life and career during his rise to political power and his years in the White House, arguing that he looked beyond the political system to find support in his struggle to end slavery.
Young Center books in Anabaptist and Pietist studies
Notes
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents
Introduction : religion, religious minorities, and the American Civil War -- Politics and peoplehood in a restless republic -- Our country is at war -- Conscription, combat, and Virginia's "war of self-defense," 1861-1862 -- Negotiation and notoriety in Pennsylvania, 1862 -- Patterns of peace and patriotism in the Midwest -- The fighting comes north, 1862-1863 -- Thaddeus Stevens and Pennsylvania Mennonite politics -- Did Jesus Christ teach men war? -- Resistance and revenge in Virginia, 1863-1864 -- Burning the Shenandoah Valley -- Reconstructed nation, reconstructed peoplehood.
"Forever Free project : Peter O. Almond & Stephen B. Brier, senior producers ; Christine Doudna, editor."
Originally published: Knopf, 2005.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 239-244) and index.
Contents
The peculiar institution -- True likenesses -- Forever free -- Re-visions of war -- The meanings of freedom -- Altered relations -- An American crisis -- The tocsin of freedom -- On the offensive -- The facts of reconstruction -- Countersigns -- The abandonment of reconstruction -- Jim Crow -- The unfinished revolution.
Summary
Draws on a wide range of documents to offer a new interpretation of the Emancipation and Reconstruction years and the lasting impact they had on the nation's history.
The Lancaster city directory : containing the names of the citizens, a business directory, state and city record, and an appendix of much useful information, 1857
Gilbert family history : the story of John Gilbert who emigrated in 1682 from Cornwall, England to Bucks County, Pennsylvania and some of his descendants : including the Walton and Rakestraw families, and an account of the Indian captivity of the family of Benjamin Gilbert and Elizabeth Walton
Includes bibliographical references (p. [263]-267) and index.
Summary
From the moment of Lincoln's death on April 15, 1865, until Andrew Johnson, his replacement, formally announced postwar plans on May 29, the fate of the country hung in the balance. War had left the Republic strained almost beyond endurance. Johnson's ascendancy to the presidency seemed the killing stroke, even to the victorious North. A former slave owner from the border state of Tennessee, Johnson had been drunk at his inauguration as vice president; he was hated equally by the South and the North. Some Northerners were even convinced he had been part of the conspiracy behind Lincoln's assassination. Later, he escaped impeachment by a single vote. As Howard Means reveals in this revisionist account of Johnson's first six weeks in office, the new president faced almost insurmountable odds. Yet Johnson not only met but overcame them, preserving the Union for which so many had sacrificed their lives.--From publisher description.
Two day unreserved public auction of antique reference books, Pennsylania history, early imprints, early photographs, 18th & 19th century manuscripts, ephemera, fraktur, folk art, art & prints...piecrimper collection of the late Jacob M. Borry of Ephrata, Pa.; primitives, pottery, English China (Late Adams, transfer decorated, gaudy ironstone, gaudy Welsh, gaudy Dutch, Lustre, Mocha, spatter, pearlware, etc.) inkwells, glassware (Stiegel-type, blown, marbles, lamps, bottles, etc.), textiles, & furniture from the collections of the late Jacob M. Borry of Ephrata, Lancaster Co, Penna. Margaret K. Osburn, formerly of Lancater Co, Penna. and others : [to be held] Friday, May 30, 2008, and Saturday, May 31, 2008
Treason at Christiana, September 11, 1951 The true story of a Battle of Freedom on the Underground Railroad that Rocked the Nation, Threatened Secesion of States from the Union and Brought a Charge of Treason by the Federal Government Against 38 Americans
