Reference resources are a great place to begin your research. They can help you define terms as well as to find basic information about a topic, a chronicle of its history, theories, key people and sometimes a bibliography of additional sources.
There are many different types of reference sources, which include dictionaries, encyclopedias, thesauri, bibliographies, handbooks, style manuals to name a few.
Encyclopedia of American History
REF E174 .E53 2003 (Stauffer Library)
Vol. 4: Expansion and Reform, 1813-1855
The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Daily Life in America
REF E169.1 .G7553 2009 (Stauffer Library)
Vol.1: The War of Independence and Antebellum Expansion and Reform, 1763-1861
Women's Studies Encyclopedia
HQ1115 .W645 1999 (Stauffer Library)
Bibliographies like Oxford Bibliographies offer authoritative research guides helping you to narrow the vast number of citations to the best scholarship on a given topic.
Although there is not a separate guide for American History, there are articles on the slave trade, slavery, the frontier, the Mexican American war and the Alamo.