As the population of the 13 colonies grew and the economy developed, the desire to expand into new land increased. Nineteenth-century Americans believed it was their divine right to expand their territory from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. 'Manifest destiny', a phrase first used in 1839 by journalist John O'Sullivan, embodied the belief that God had given the United States a mission to spread a republican democracy across the continent. Advocates of manifest destiny were determined to carry out their mission and instigated several wars, including the war with Mexico to win much of what is now the southwestern United States. In "Manifest Destiny", learn how this philosophy to spread out across the land shaped our nation....

Spanish legend claimed there were seven cities built of gold and filled with treasure in the New World. Today he is seen as a brave explorer and a careful observer of life in the Southwest. Ages 8+ years....

On February 23, 1836, general and dictator Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and a Mexican force of more than 2,000 men launched an assault against Colonel William B. Travis of Texas, his army of 155 men, and 15 civilians who were living in the fort known as the Alamo. The Texans, who were reinforced by 32 men by March 1, withstood the Mexican army until March 6. That day, the 187 Texan defenders perished in the hand-to-hand combat, including American frontiersmen Davy Crockett and James Bowie, and 600 from the Mexican army were killed as well. Only the civilians survived. At the last battle of the Texas War, the Battle of San Jacinto, General Santa Anna was defeated, and the battle cry 'Remember the Alamo!' could be heard being shouted by the Texan army. "The Alamo" examines this heroic episode in the Texas War of Independence against Mexico....

In 1861, Americans became engaged in a bloody civil war in which more than 600,000 Americans lost their lives. The conflict began after several states withdrew from the Union. "Causes of the Civil War: The Differences Between the North and South" examines the sectional rivalries that surfaced in the early 19th century and intensified in the decades leading up to the war. Two distinct American societies had developed: one industrialized, urban, and relying upon free labor, and the other rural, agrarian, and built upon slave labor. As the United States expanded its territory westward, the differences in the two sections fueled the debate over slavery and its use. In the 1840s and 1850s, tensions escalated, resulting in the secession of the Southern states and the declaration of war between the Union and the Confederates....

The women's rights movement grew out of the women's suffrage movement of the mid-1800s and also addressed other women's legal rights issues. The second wave of the movement, which promoted economic, political, and social equality, gained momentum in the 1960s and '70s, when such groups as the National Organization for Women fought for equal pay and laws banning employment discrimination. Clearly written, highly visual, and bolstered by sidebars, a chronology and timeline, and a thorough index, "The Women's Rights Movement" is an illuminating introduction to one of the most prominent reform movements of the last 40 years....