19th Century

David McCullough discusses the challenges faced by America's pioneers.

This backyard game has a surprisingly rich and complicated history.

Find out how Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery to become one of the most respected and effective abolitionist leaders.

Paul Boyton founded Sea Lion Park at Coney Island, which created the business model of the first Coney Island Amusement Park.

Meet Andrew Carnegie and find out how the wealthiest man of his day ended up giving away his vast fortune.

Western migration through uncharted regions strands a wagon train in the Sierra Mountains leaving little choice for survival.

Discover how the Gold Rush led to the creation of California.

Find out how the transcontinental railroad transformed America into one nation.

Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr met on the dueling ground one fateful day, but their story started much earlier.

After building his reputation as a formidable hunter on Lewis and Clark's Expedition, John Colter enters the booming fur trade.

After braving the Oregon Trail, Protestant missionaries Marcus and Narcissa Whitman seek to spread their Christian faith.

Harry Houdini is still known today as history's most famous magician, but there was a time when his act needed to be rescued from the dead.

After years of U.S. encroachment, Chief Little Turtle leads the Northwest Confederacy to a major victory over the young U.S. Army.

Protestant missionaries Marcus and Narcissa Whitman seek to spread their Christian faith to the local Cayuse people.

When Kansas becomes a battleground in the debate over slavery, settlers on both sides pour into the territory to determine its future.

When daring cavalry officer William Fetterman arrives on the scene, Carrington's struggle to control his men only escalates.

Faced with a crisis of orphans on New York City streets, Charles Brace devised a solution – send these children out for adoption in towns across the Midwest. By the end of the Orphan Train program, over 200,000 children had been placed with new families.

A cholera outbreak in 19th century London led to a critical advance in public health.

Before salted roads and giant snowplows, one devastating storm brought New York City to a halt. But it may have changed things for the better.

Historian Matthew Pinsker gives a crash course on the concept of "manifest destiny" and the seeds of westward American expansion.

Following the Civil War, the Ku Klux Klan emerges to suppress and victimize newly freed slaves.

Over 400,000 people travel West to start a new life and claim new land along the Oregon Trail, including Lucinda Brown. One-hundred seventy years later, one of her descendants sees a kettle from her journey for the first time.

The election of Abraham Lincoln was a tipping point on the path to Civil War. In the wake of Southern secession, would the new president defend the U.S. forts in rebel territory?

The famed Industrialist breaks the back of organized workers.

Learn key facts behind Bleeding Kansas, a series of violent confrontations between pro- and anti-slavery forces during the settling of Kansas, from historian Matthew Pinsker.

In 1804, Jefferson sends a team to explore lands acquired in the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery will travel nearly 8,000 miles over three years, reaching the Pacific Ocean and clearing the path for westward expansion.

Find out what a cow has to do with the Chicago fire of 1871 in this animated tale of disaster and destruction in the windy city.

America was ready to expand westward, even if it meant going to war. Learn how and why the Mexican-American War happened.

Analyze the impact of the labor movement in America throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

Get a crash course on the causes and consequences of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 with historian Matthew Pinsker.

No-nonsense commander Andrew Jackson cleverly defended New Orleans against the threat of an overwhelming force.

Populism refers to politicians claiming to represent the people—but its roots trace back to the 19th century.

Thomas Jefferson pulls off the land deal of the millennium when he buys 800,000 square miles from the French.

Out of the ashes of the Great Chicago Fire came a new and better way to build.