United States History

What should we say about the United States of America? So much has already been said, adding our two cents is a bit redundant or presumptuous, depending on your perspective. Certainly, no one needs us to outline the facts, the major events and figures, or to describe our unique written Constitution and democratic-republican system.

We can offer a bit of perspective. It's nothing new, nothing we came up with on our own, but it is different from a lot of the prevailing notions about both history in general and our nation in particular.

For starters, there's no specific reference to the U.S. in the Bible. The principles found in God's Word that apply to all nations certainly apply to the United States as well, but we aren't a Christian nation, we don't hold a special place in biblical prophecy, and Manifest Destiny is the result of Enlightenment rationalist views about the Progress of Mankind rather than being rooted in any kind of Christian attitude.

That said, many of the first settlers of the New World were dedicated Christians seeking the right to worship God without the constraints of political entanglement or government-imposed strictures and doctrine. The Pilgrims came in 1620, just 13 years after the first successful English settlement at Jamestown, and the Puritan settlers followed soon after.

Their arrivals and colonization didn't make America Christian, of course. It was a broad continent, largely unknown, and the initial colonies weren't strictly bound together at first, as they were later to become. By that time, things had become substantially more secular, so that by the 18th century many Americans were just as degenerate as their European counterparts. Fortunately, men like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield were around to preach the true Gospel, and to initiate a revival known as the Great Awakening.

Secular forces were still at work, though. While there were definitely many Christians involved, the American Revolution was largely the result of Enlightenment philosophizing, and men were convinced that America could produce a virtuous and stable population if education and participatory government were enforced. So they rebelled against England, and the United States republic was formed.

Ever since, groups and individuals have tried to call Americans back to their Christian roots. That's the wrong strategy: we don't need to call anyone back to anything, we need to point the way forward to the pursuit of Christ and the bringing of His Gospel and glory to every corner of the earth no matter what our country of origin. That America has been so materially blessed simply means we have more options at our disposal for proclaiming and bringing the Word to the rest of the world.

Our study of United States history is consequently Christ-centered. Not because we think America is more Christian than other countries, but because it (like all other nations) is under Christ's control as King of Heaven and Lord of Time. Of course, you shouldn't abandon study of the facts, people and events, but they only attain true meaning when viewed through the lens of Christ's ultimate plan of redemption and self-glorification.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he is a husband and father, teaches adult Sunday school in his Presbyterian congregation, and likes weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur.Read more of his reviews here.

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124 Items found Print
Active Filters: History for Adults, Used Books & Materials
1776
by David McCullough
from Simon and Schuster
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1776
by David McCullough
1st edition from Simon and Schuster
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
1861: The Civil War Awakening
by Adam Goodheart
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Air Forces of the World
by Sue Butterworth, editor
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Album of Memories
by Tom Brokaw
from Random House
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$6.50 (1 in stock)
Alexander Hamilton
by Ron Chernow
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America 1933
by Michael Golay
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America's Longest War
by George C. Herring
2nd edition from McGraw-Hill
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American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House
by Jon Meacham
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American Passage
by Vincent J. Cannato
from Harper Perennial
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Americanization of Benjamin Franklin
by Gordon S. Wood
from Penguin Books
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Andersonville
by MacKinlay Kantor
from World Publishing Company
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1955 Pulitzer Prize Winner
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Beards' New Basic History of the United States
by Charles A. Beard, Mary R. Beard, and William Beard
from Doubleday & Company
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Big Burn
by Timothy Egan
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Bitter Woods: The Battle of the Bulge
by John S. D. Eisenhower
1st edition from Da Capo Press
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Brave Men
by Ernie Pyle
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British and European Combat Aircraft
Combat Aircraft Library
by Paul A. Jackson
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British are Coming
The Revolution Trilogy #1 of 3
by Rick Atkinson
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Buffalo Bill and the Wild West
by Henry Blackman Sell and Victor Weybright
Reprint from International Cody Family Assoc.
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$15.00 (1 in stock)
Chickamauga
by Horace Porter
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Christopher Columbus and His Legacy
Opposing Viewpoints Series
by Mary Ellen Jones, Editor
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$7.00 (1 in stock)
Christopher Columbus: His Story and His Journals
Knowledge Keepers Home Library Series 1492
by Edward Everett Hale and Edward Gaylord Bourne
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$12.00 (2 in stock)
Churchill: Walking with Destiny
by Andrew Roberts
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War: A History
by Harry Hansen, Introduction by Richard S. Wheeler, Foreword by Gary Gallagher
from New American Library
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Colonial Period: 1607-1750
American History by Era Volume 2
by Brenda Stalcup (editor)
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Confederate War
by Gary W. Gallagher
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Conquerors
by Michael Beschloss
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Dead and Those About to Die
by John C. McManus
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Defining Moment
by Jonathan Alter
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Devil in Massachusetts
by Marion L. Starkey
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Earth is Weeping
by Peter Cozzens
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men
by Jeffrey Rogers Hummel
1st edition from Open Court Publishing
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Embattled Rebel
by James M. McPherson
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
FDR
by Jean Edward Smith
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Fighting for Liberty and Virtue
by Marvin Olasky
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Folk Arts and Crafts of New England
by Priscilla Sawyer Lord & Daniel J. Foley
Updated from Chilton Book Company
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Forever Free
by Eric Foner, illustrations edited with commentary by Joshua Brown
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Freighters and Pilgrims
Knowledge Keepers Home Library Series 1865
by Charles E. Young and Sarah Raymond Herndon
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Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
by Gordon S. Wood
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General Lee: Southern Commander
Knowledge Keepers Home Library Series 1861
by John Esten Cooke, Captain Robert E. Lee, foreword by Nicki Truesdell
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$15.00 (1 in stock)
Gettysburg: The Last Invasion
by Allen C. Guelzo
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Gettysburg: The Last Invasion
by Allen C. Guelzo
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Gilded Age: A History in Documents
by Janette Thomas Greenwood
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Girl in the Picture
by Denise Chong
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Great Bridge
by David McCullough
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Greater Journey
by David McCullough
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Greatest Generation
by Tom Brokaw
1st edition from Random House
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Greatest Generation Speaks
by Tom Brokaw
1st edition from Random House
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Heyday
by Ben Wilson
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History of the American People
by Paul Johnson
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Honor in the Dust
by Gregg Jones
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Hostile Skies
by James J. Hudson
1st edition from Syracuse University Press
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Hubbell Trading Post
by Erica Cottam
from University of Oklahoma Press
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
In the Arena: A Memoir of Victory, Defeat and Renewal
by Richard Nixon
1st edition from Simon & Schuster Macmillan
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Indians of the Woodlands
by George E. Hyde
from University of Oklahoma Press
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Iriquois Handbook
Knowledge Keepers Home Library Series 1771
by Reverend John Heckewelder
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Island at the Center of the World
by Russell Shorto
from Vintage Books
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
John Wanamaker: King of Merchants
by William Allen Zulker
from Eaglecrest Press
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Labor's Untold Story
by Herbert M. Morais, Richard O. Boyer
3rd edition from United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of Amer
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$5.00 (2 in stock)
Last Men Out
by Bob Drury & Tom Clavin
1st Printing from Free Press
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Lexington Goes Down
by A. A. Hoehling
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Lies My Teacher Told Me
by James W. Loewen
1st edition from Touchstone
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Lies My Teacher Told Me
by James W. Loewen
2nd edition from Touchstone
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Light of Days
by Judy Batalion
from William Morrow & Company
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Mary Chesnut's Civil War
by C. Vann Woodward, ed.
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Mathew Brady
by James D. Horan
from Bonanza Books
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Mayflower
by Nathaniel Philbrick
from Penguin Putnam
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Miracle at Philadelphia
by Catherine Drinker Bowen
from Little, Brown & Company
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$9.00 (3 in stock)
Mirror of War: The Washington Star Reports the Civil War
by John W. Stepp, I. William Hill
from Prentice Hall
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Monuments Men
by Robert M. Edsel with Bret Witter
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Mosby's Rangers
by Jeffry D. Wert
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Mountain Men and Fur Traders of the Far West
by LeRoy R. Hafen & Harvey L. Carter
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 9th-Adult
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Nothing Like It in the World
by Stephen E. Ambrose
from Simon and Schuster
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Old Williamsburg and Her Neighbors
by William Stevens
3rd Printing from Dodd, Mead & Co.
for Adult
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Omar Bradley: General at War
by Jim DeFelice
from Regnery Publishing, Inc.
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
On the Edge
by David D. Lee, David Horowitz, Peter N. Carroll
1st edition
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
One Nation Under Debt
by Robert E. Wright
from McGraw-Hill
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Our Mountain Hermitage
by Anne Roller Issler
from Stanford University Press
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Paris 1919
by Margaret Macmillan
from Random House
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Pioneer Children on the Journey West
by Emmy E. Werner
from Westview Press
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Return of George Washington
by Edward J. Larson
from William Morrow & Company
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Revolutionary Period: 1750-1783
American History by Era Volume 3
by Bruce Thompson (Book Editor)
from Greenhaven Press
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$13.00 (1 in stock)
Rewriting of America's History
by Catherine Millard
from Horizon Books
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in America's Christian Heritage (Location: HISA-CH)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government 2 Volumes
by Jefferson Davis
1990 Da Capo paperback from Da Capo Press
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$20.00 (1 in stock)
Rising Sun Volume 1
by John Toland
from Random House
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Runaway Slaves
by John Hope Franklin
from Oxford University
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Saints and Strangers
by George F. Wilson
from Time Inc.
for 4th-8th grade
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
Second World War: Gathering Storm
Second World War Volume 1
by Winston Churchill
from Houghton Mifflin
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Second World War: Triumph and Tragedy
Second World War Volume 6
by Winston Churchill
from Houghton Mifflin
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
So Long Until Tomorrow
by Lowell Thomas
from William Morrow & Company
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Soul of the Lion
by Willard M. Wallace
Reprint from Stan Clark Military Books
for 10th-Adult
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
South in Modern America
by Dewey W. Grantham
from University of Arkansas Press
for Adult
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Stillness at Appomattox
The Army of the Patomac Volume 3
by Bruce Catton
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 10th grade-adult
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Such Troops as These
by Bevin Alexander
from Dutton Caliber
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Sugar and Slaves
by Richard S. Dunn, foreword by Gary B. Nash
from University of North Carolina Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Supreme Commander
by Seymour Morris Jr.
from HarperCollins
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Susan B. Anthony Slept Here
by Lynn Sherr and Jurate Kazickas
from Times Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Team of Rivals
by Doris Kearns Goodwin
from Simon and Schuster
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
They Marched Into Sunlight
by David Maraniss
from Simon and Schuster
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
They Met at Gettysburg
by Edward J. Stackpole
from Bonanza Books
for 6th-10th grade
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
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