EXPANSION 1801 - 1861

These stories relate to the period spanning the first half of the 19th century. This era included United States territorial expansion, relations with external powers and Native Americans, the Industrial Revolution, increasing immigration, the rapid expansion of slavery, and the westward movement that changed the lives of Americans and led toward regional tensions. It also includes the extension, restriction, and reorganization of political democracy after 1800.

Click on the links below to go to a particular investigation or go back to the Archive.

1856 Mormon Tale

Is this tattered book a true account of female slavery in the old West? ... More

Annie Oakley Coin

Was this coin a target for one of the Wild West's most popular female sharpshooters?...More

Chisholm Trail

In the small town of Donna, Texas, near the Mexican border, a historic marker declares that the famous Chisholm Trail ran through this area...More

Chinese Opium Scale

Is this a scale used by Chinese immigrants to measure opium during the 1800s? ...More

Cherokee Bible

Having grown up speaking only English, a woman is intrigued by what appears to be Cherokee writing in the bible, and wants to learn more about her own family's history...More

Coca-Cola Trade Card

Could this 1886 card which advertises a strange-sounding beverage be a unique piece of early Coca-Cola advertising? ...More

Jefferson Pledge

Did the transformation of the nation's public education system begin with this $200 pledge? ...More

Koranic School Book

A History Detectives viewer in Mulvane, Kansas, owns a 200-year-old schoolbook with a startling secret...More

Lewis & Clark's Cane

Minnesota man has an old wooden cane that has been in his family for as long as he can remember...More

Little Big Horn Bayonet

The family home of the famous military hero General Edward Godfrey holds a surprising secret...More

Long Expedition

An Omaha, Nebraska resident holds land along the Missouri River, where archaeologists are currently digging an encampment from the "Long Expedition."...More

Mankato Spoon

What does this delicate silver spoon have to do with the largest mass execution in American history?...More

Mark Twain's Watch

An Oregon man, Jack Ainsworth Mills, has a watch that may have been a gift to his grandfather from noted American author, Samuel Clemens, otherwise known as Mark Twain...More

Monroe Letter

Does this letter link America's fifth President to the high seas piracy of U.S. merchant ships in the early 1800s?...More

Napoleon's Sword

A magnificent sword that has been handed down for generations in a St. Martinville family has a mystery around it...More

Pirate Spyglass

Jean Lafitte was a fearsome pirate, an ingenious privateer, and a war hero...More

Seth Eastman Painting

Is this painting an original depiction of Native American life from one of the premiere painters of the American West?...More

Shipwreck Cannons

Are these the last remains of a navy schooner that fought in a border dispute with the mighty British Empire?...More

Snowshoe's Mailbag

While browsing through a Montana antique store, a resident of Modesto, California, discovered an unusual leather satchel...More