American Nineteenth Century History Journal

From abolitionists to fundamentalists: the transformation of the Wesleyan Methodists in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries This article analyzes the cultural trajectory of a small, but influential denomination that formed in 1843. Wesleyan Methodism first emerged as an abolitionist protest against the Methodist comprom...

On this day in US history (1784), John Wesley chartered the first Methodist church in the United States. For more on how Wesleyan Methodism developed in the long nineteenth century, why not check out this OPEN ACCESS article by @randalljstephens.bsky.social: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

President James K. Polk’s deathbed conversion: the contest of ideas and market within the mid-nineteenth-century southern evangelical press In June 1849, James K. Polk died from cholera in Nashville, less than four months removed from the presidency. Seizing on a sensational column in the New York Herald, the editor of the Tennessee Ba...

On this day in US history (1849) - James K. Polk became the first sitting president to have his photograph taken - find out more about Polk in these ANCH articles by Scott Stephan and W. Dusinberre:

Stephan: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Dusinberre:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...

American Nineteenth Century History Volume 26, Issue 3 of American Nineteenth Century History

Check out the latest issue of American Nineteenth Century History www.tandfonline.com/toc/fanc20/c...

Hinton Rowan Helper's the land of gold and the evolution of race relations in California The California Gold Rush of the mid‐nineteenth century attracted a multitude of prospectors from around the world, bringing together a vibrant mix of ethnicities and cultures. Historians have argue...

Today is the anniversary of the start of the California Gold Rush back in 1848, so why not check out an article from our online archives, which explores the development of race relations during this crucial turning point in California's history?

www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Latest articles from American Nineteenth Century History Browse the latest articles and research from American Nineteenth Century History

Looking for a New Year's Resolution? Look no further - how about reading an article a month from 'American Nineteenth Century History'? Simple, achievable and effective! 🇺🇸💡📚

www.tandfonline.com/action/showA...

“The master whished to reproduce”: slavery, forced intimacy, and enslavers’ interference in sexual relationships in the antebellum South, 1808–1861 This article examines the extent to which enslavers across the antebellum South forced enslaved men and women to reproduce. Using a spectrum of violence as a tool of coercion, enslavers coerced, ca...

Our 2025 ANCH journal prize goes to the exceptional @aishadjelid.bsky.social and her article on slavery and forced intimacy, which has now reached a simply staggering 82,000 VIEWS! Amazing work 🥳

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

“The master whished to reproduce”: slavery, forced intimacy, and enslavers’ interference in sexual relationships in the antebellum South, 1808–1861 This article examines the extent to which enslavers across the antebellum South forced enslaved men and women to reproduce. Using a spectrum of violence as a tool of coercion, enslavers coerced, ca...

Our 2025 ANCH journal prize goes to the exceptional @aishadjelid.bsky.social and her article on slavery and forced intimacy, which has now reached a simply staggering 82,000 VIEWS! Amazing work 🥳

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

“Reconstruction: Democracy for All” Published in American Nineteenth Century History (Vol. 26, No. 2, 2025)

Check out our multi-expert review of "The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860–1920," by @profmsinha.bsky.social Manisha Sinha

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

“To keep me steady”: Northern culture, temptation, and the talismanic home in the Civil War Age Young people away from home in a world replete with temptation: to many Northerners, this was a disturbing fact of life in the nineteenth century's middle decades. How could a young person operate ...

We are excited to reveal another new article in ANCH, available now ahead of print via our website. In it, Isaiah Sterrett (Boston College) explores how young Northerners maintained a sense of morality and self amidst the maelstrom of the Civil War.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

“To keep me steady”: Northern culture, temptation, and the talismanic home in the Civil War Age Young people away from home in a world replete with temptation: to many Northerners, this was a disturbing fact of life in the nineteenth century's middle decades. How could a young person operate ...

We are excited to reveal another new article in ANCH, available now ahead of print via our website. In it, Isaiah Sterrett (Boston College) explores how young Northerners maintained a sense of morality and self amidst the maelstrom of the Civil War.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Thrilled to have this roundtable on @profmsinha.bsky.social's (most recent!) hugely significant book. As ever, if you're interested in submitting to @anchistjournal.bsky.social - whether a research essay, historiographical or methodological piece, or perhaps a review roundtable - drop us a line!

Demographic theory and the movement to reopen the African slave trade During the 1850s, southern defenders of slavery used the concepts of Malthusian-Ricardian political economy to contest class relations, territorial policy, and the reopening of the international sl...

Fascinating new article in ANCH, available online ahead of print.

K. Howell Keiser Jr. (University of Florida, Gainesville) explores mid-nineteenth century US efforts to reopen the African slave trade: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Just a reminder, as November reaches its midpoint, there's plenty of innovative US history to enjoy in our latest issue!

American Nineteenth Century History Volume 26, Issue 2 of American Nineteenth Century History

The latest issue of American Nineteenth Century History has just dropped online - the perfect thing to fill that awkward gap between Halloween and Thanksgiving! 🎃 🦃 🇺🇸 www.tandfonline.com/toc/fanc20/c...

Latest articles from American Nineteenth Century History Browse the latest articles and research from American Nineteenth Century History

Are you fascinated by the US Civil War era? If so, we have a number of fantastic ahead-of-print articles available now on our website, bringing fresh light to this complex and always resonant conflict - www.tandfonline.com/action/showA...

Episcopalians in Civil War Washington: loyalty, prayer, and the struggle over religious authority within the Diocese of Maryland In 1862, the Episcopal bishop of Maryland, William Whittingham, issued a prayer of thanksgiving for deliverance from the Confederate blockade to be used expressly by parishes in Washington, D.C. Th...

Our latest article is now available ahead of print! In it, Sean A. Scott explores the contested nature of loyalty to both church and state during the Civil War - find out more on our website 📚 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Challenging the overseer: enslaved women’s violent resistance in the US antebellum South This article examines violent confrontations between enslaved women and white overseeing men, exploring how enslaved women opposed overseers through the weaponization of objects and fixtures on sit...

Thrilled to see my research published in @anchistjournal.bsky.social!

'Enslaved women were not only violent in their interactions with Southern overseers through avenues of assault, homicide, and attempted murder, they were also armed.'

You can read it here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Gender, sex, and the civil war: battling for inclusion A historiographical essay interrogating the past quarter century of scholarship examining women's roles during the U.S. Civil War era. Issues of sexuality and sensibilities, morality and masculinit...

The first is a historiographical essay interrogating the past quarter century of scholarship examining women's roles during the US Civil War era by Professor Catherine Clinton of The University of Texas at San Antonio:

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

“The Terrible Turk” in industrial America: a case of orientalism in late nineteenth-century American newspapers This study analyzes Orientalism and masculinity in the discourse of American newspapers in the late nineteenth century. For this purpose, it focuses on the newspaper reports about a Muslim-Ottoman ...

The third - and latest - of our new articles analyses Orientalism and masculinity in the discourse of American newspapers in the late nineteenth century and is by Dr Mert Deniz of Halic Universitesi:

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Challenging the overseer: enslaved women’s violent resistance in the US antebellum South This article examines violent confrontations between enslaved women and white overseeing men, exploring how enslaved women opposed overseers through the weaponization of objects and fixtures on sit...

The second new article is an OPEN ACCESS piece examining violent confrontations between enslaved women and white overseeing men by Dr @erinshearer.bsky.social of the @raioxford.bsky.social at the University of Oxford:

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Hot on the heels of the latest issue of ANCH comes a TRIPLE drop of new articles available ahead of print on our website.

In 2014, I wrote an article about the Scourged Back photo for @anchistjournal.bsky.social which has generated more public interest than nearly anything I've written. The erasure of this image, which remains as powerful today and when it was taken, horrifies me. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

American Nineteenth Century History Universities and Slavery. Volume 26, Issue 1 of American Nineteenth Century History

The latest issue of "American Nineteenth Century History" is now out! 🙌

This special issue's focus is "Universities and Slavery," it is edited by Benedict Carton & Natalie Zacek, and features contributions from Chana Kai Lee, George D. Oberle III & Wendi N. Manuel-Scott

American Nineteenth Century History Universities and Slavery. Volume 26, Issue 1 of American Nineteenth Century History

The latest issue of "American Nineteenth Century History" is now out! 🙌

This special issue's focus is "Universities and Slavery," it is edited by Benedict Carton & Natalie Zacek, and features contributions from Chana Kai Lee, George D. Oberle III & Wendi N. Manuel-Scott

Delighted to see this important special edition of @anchistjournal.bsky.social "Universities and Slavery" out now, edited by Benedict Carton & Natalie Zacek, and featuring contributions from Chana Kai Lee, George D. Oberle III, Wendi N. Manuel-Scott

@branchuk.bsky.social @anchistjournal.bsky.social BrANCH/BGEAH conference looking real now. Who doesn't love putting name tags into plastic wallets and lanyards. Rock n roll...

Gettysburg and American history: the Peter J. Parish memorial lecture 2023 The article asks why Gettysburg has always been the granted an exceptional place in the memory of the Civil War. It argues that Gettysburg, more perfectly than any other battle, has suited narrativ...

As summer comes to an end, why not try out our most-read paper of 2025 so far. It's OPEN ACCESS, so no subscription necessary...

Gettysburg and American history: the Peter J. Parish Memorial Lecture by Adam I. P. Smith

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The price of knowledge: universities and slavery in Anglo-American perspective This article centers on the different ways that English and American universities have uncovered, publicized, and responded to their historical connections to transatlantic slavery. It argues that ...

This summer, why not try out our most-read papers? Our second most-read paper of 2025 so far is OPEN ACCESS: The price of knowledge: universities and slavery in Anglo-American perspective by Natalie Zacek

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Nineteenth-century feminist historiography: continuities, intersections, and breakthroughs This article assesses the interpretations of nineteenth-century movements for women's rights and finds that the historiography has been shaped equally by narrative continuity and interpretive debat...

NEW ARTICLE: April Haynes assesses the historiography of nineteenth-century movements for women's rights in a recent article for ANCH: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....