Joy Hakim

A History of US

Liberty for All?

1820-1860

Henry David Thoreau said, "Eastward I go only by force, but westward I go free." Lots of Americans agreed. The 19th century was an exuberant time in the United States, with many Americans on the move. This book tells of mountain men, railroad builders, whalers, gold rush hopefuls, and farmers, as well as of poets and painters. Read of westward migration, the California Gold Rush, war with Mexico, the Oregon boundary conflict, and Texas and the Alamo. For Americans everywhere there was a gnawing question: How, in the land where "all men are created equal," could there be slaves?

Quotes

"Some people like danger and adventure, some like to be free of civilization, and some like to live by their wits. It was those special people who headed west."

"Elizabeth Cady read the nation's great Declaration, and it bothered her. All men are created equal, it said. But what about women?"

"When William Johnson and slave walked down that long, winding American road toward freedom and justice, they didn't realize they would be speaking out for all those left behind. They learned that it would take hard work to make the words of the Declaration of Independence mean what they said. Ellen and William Craft were willing to do their part."