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's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and 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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170 Items found Print
Active Filters: 8th grade (Ages 13-14), Hardcover, Used Books & Materials
Abraham Lincoln in Peace and War
by Earl Schenck Miers
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 6th-10th grade
in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain
from Scholastic Inc.
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
America in the 1930s
Decades of American History
by Jim Callan
from Facts On File
for 5th-8th grade
in 20th Century America (Location: HISA-20)
America in the 1960s
Decades of American History
by Jim Callan
from Facts On File
for 5th-8th grade
in 20th Century America (Location: HISA-20)
America in the 1970s
from Facts On File
for 5th-8th grade
in 20th Century America (Location: HISA-20)
America in the 1990s
by George Ochoa
from Facts On File
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America's Fascinating Indian Heritage
by James A. Maxwell
from Reader's Digest
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$3.20 (1 in stock)
American Barns and Covered Bridges
by Eric Sloane
1st edition from Wilfred Funk, Inc.
for 5th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
American Faith
by Kevin Swanson with Joshua Schwisow, Daniel Noor, and Peter Bringe
2nd edition from Generations
for 7th-8th grade
in Miscellaneous History Curriculum (Location: HISCUR-MISC)
$31.50 (1 in stock)
American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 1
from Dell Publishing
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
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American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 10
from Dell Publishing
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American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 2
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American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 4
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American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 5
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American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 6
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American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 8
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American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 9
from Dell Publishing
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
American Heritage History of the Indian Wars
by Robert M. Utley, Wilcomb E. Washburn
Revised from American Heritage Publishing Co.
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in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
American Indian Tales and Legends
by Vladimir Hulpach, illustrated by Miloslav Troup
from Paul Hamlyn
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$4.80 (1 in stock)
American Yesterday
by Eric Sloane
15th Printing from Funk & Wagnalls
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Apache Land
by Ross Santee
from Charles Scribner's Sons
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$11.20 (1 in stock)
B. Franklin, Printer
by David A. Adler
from Holiday House
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$6.40 (2 in stock)
Before Columbus
by Charles C. Mann
from Atheneum
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in Ancient America (Location: HISW-ANAM)
$21.24 $14.40 (1 in stock)
Before Columbus
by Charles C. Mann
from Atheneum
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in Ancient America (Location: HISW-ANAM)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Betsy Ross and the Flag
Landmark #26
by Jane Mayer, illustrated by Grace Paull
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Black Man in America
from Franklin Watts
for 6th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Boston
from Crescent Books
for 4th-Adult
in U.S. Monuments & Symbols (Location: HISV-LANUS)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Captain Edward L. Beach: Around the World Under Water
by Beril Becker
from Kingston House
for 6th-10th grade
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Captive
by Scott O'Dell
from HMH Books for Young Readers
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Hans Christian Anderson Award
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
by Jean Lee Latham, illustrated by John O'Hara Cosgrave II
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 5th-9th grade
1956 Newbery Medal winner
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Carver: A Life In Poems
by Marilyn Nelson
1st edition from Scholastic Inc.
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2002 Newbery Honor Book
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$4.80 (1 in stock)
Character for Life
by Don Hawkinson
for 7th-12th grade
in America's Christian Heritage (Location: HISA-CH)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Charles A. Lindbergh
by James Cross Giblin
from Clarion Books
Biography for 5th-8th grade
1998 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
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$7.00 (1 in stock)
Chief Joseph Country
by Bill Gulick
3rd Printing 1994 from Caxton Press
for 8th-Adult
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$16.00 (1 in stock)
Children of the Wild West
by Russell Freedman
from Clarion Books
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Citizen's Handbook
by Bethany Poore
from Notgrass Company
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Civil War Battles
by Curt Johnson
1st edition from Crescent Books
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Cloud Over Hiroshima
by Burt Hirschfeld, jacket & maps by Barry Martin
from Julian Messner
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Codfish Musket
by Agnes Hewes, illustrated by Armstrong Sperry
from Doubleday, Doran & Company Inc.
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1937 Newbery Honor Book
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$45.00 (1 in stock)
Colonial American Home Life
by John F. Warner
from Franklin Watts
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$3.20 (2 in stock)
Colonial Governor
by J.G.E. Hopkins, illustrated by William Wilson
from P.J. Kenedy & Sons
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Countdown
by Deborah Wiles
1st edition from Scholastic Press
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Cry from the Earth
by John Bierhorst
from Four Winds Press
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$3.20 (1 in stock)
Cultural Atlas for Young People: Ancient America
by Marion Wood
1st edition from Facts On File
Ancient History Reference/Atlas for 4th-8th grade
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Cultural Atlas for Young People: Ancient Maya & Aztec Civilizations
by Marion Wood
3rd edition from Facts On File
Ancient History Reference/Atlas for 4th-8th grade
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Dime a Dozen
by Nikki Grimes, Illustrated by Angelo
from Dial Books for Young Readers
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DK Eyewitness: Explorer
by Rupert Matthews
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
DK Eyewitness: Explorer
DK Eyewitness Series
by Rupert Matthews
1st edition from DK Publishing
HIstory Reference for 4th-8th grade
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Early American Literature
from Perfection Learning
for 8th-12th grade
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$9.00 (3 in stock)
Early Days of a Cowboy on the Pecos
by James F. Hinkle
from Unknown Publisher
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$2.80 (1 in stock)
Eating the Plates
by Lucille Recht Penner
1st edition from Simon and Schuster
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Escape from Corregidor
by Edward D. Whitcomb
from Regnery Publishing, Inc.
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Escape or Die
by Ina R. Friedman
from Addison Wesley
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European Land Battles 1939-1943
by Trevor Nevitt Dupuy, Col. U.S. Army, Ret.
from Franklin Watts
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Explorers
by Alasdair Macleod
from DK Publishing
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$20.00 (1 in stock)
Explorers & Discoverers - 4 Volume Set
from UXL Publishing
biographical encyclopedia for 5th-8th grade
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$20.00 (1 in stock)
Explorers, Missionaries, and Trappers
by Kieran Doherty
from Oliver-Nelson Books
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Fishermen
by Daniel Jacobson, illustrated by Richard Cuffari
from Franklin Watts
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Flag Book of the United States
by Whitney Smith
Revised Edition from William Morrow & Company
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$6.40 (1 in stock)
Fortune's Bones
by Marilyn Nelson, notes and annotations by Pamela Espeland
from Front Street
for 4th-8th grade
2005 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book
in Slavery & the Underground Railroad (Location: HISA-19SL)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
From Ballots to Breadlines
Young Oxford History of Women in the United States Volume 8
by Sarah Jane Deutsch
from Oxford University
for 6th-8th grade
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$3.20 (1 in stock)
George Washington: Soldier and Man
by North Callahan
from William Morrow & Company
for 7th-10th grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$2.40 (1 in stock)
Grand Canyon
by Tom Vail
from Master Books
for 5th-Adult
in U.S. Monuments & Symbols (Location: HISV-LANUS)
$14.44 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Great Explorers
by Joyce Grosseck & Elizabeth Attwood
for 4th-8th grade
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$3.20 (1 in stock)
Gristmill
Historic Communities
by Bobbie Kalman
from Crabtree Publishing
for 3rd-8th grade
in Colonial America (1690-1765) (Location: HISA-17COL)
$1.60 (1 in stock)
Harriet Beecher Stowe
by Suzanne M. Coil
from Franklin Watts
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$4.80 (1 in stock)
Haym Salomon: Liberty's Son
by Shirley Milgrim, illustrated by Richard Fish
from Jewish Publication Society
for 4th-8th grade
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$7.20 (1 in stock)
Hero Next Door
by Frank A. Burnham
from Aero Publishers
for 8th-Adult
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
History of the United States and Its People
by Edward Eggleston
1st edition from Lost Classics Book Co.
for 7th-9th grade
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
History of US - 11 Volumes (hardcover)
by Joy Hakim
2nd edition from Oxford University
for 5th-9th grade
in Old Edition History & Geography (Location: OHIS)
$65.00 (1 in stock)
History of US - 11 Volumes (hardcover)
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
for 5th-9th grade
in Joy Hakim's A History of US (Location: HISA-HAKIM)
$110.40 (1 in stock)
History of US Book Concise Edition B
by Joy Hakim
Concise from K12
for 5th-9th grade
in Joy Hakim's A History of US (Location: HISA-HAKIM)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
Horses of Anger
by James Forman
2nd Printing from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 7th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
In Defense of Liberty
by Russell Freedman
from Holiday House
for 8th-Adult
2004 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in New Nation (1783-1801) (Location: HISA-18NN)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Irish Americans
by James Mullin
from Houghton Mifflin
for 5th-9th grade
in Immigration & Emigration (Location: HISA-20IM)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Island of the Blue Dolphins
by Scott O'Dell
from Houghton Mifflin
Realistic Fictio for 5th-8th grade
1961 Newbery Medal Winner
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
James Fenimore Cooper
by Donald A. Ringe
from Twayne Publishers
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
John James Audubon: Painting America's Wildlife
by Janet Stevenson, illustrated by Robert Boehmer
from Encyclopedia Britannica
for 7th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
Kathleen: A Yankee Girl at Gettysburg
by Alice Turner Curtis
from Gramercy Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$4.40 (1 in stock)
Kennedy Assassinated! The World Mourns
by Wilborn Hampton
from Candlewick Press
for 5th-9th grade
1998 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
Kids at Work
by Russell Freedman, photographs by Lewis Hine
from Clarion Books
for 6th-9th grade
1995 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Industrialization & Organized Labor (Location: HISA-19IND)
Kit Carson: Folk Hero and Man
by Noel B. Gerson
from Doubleday & Company
for 4th-8th grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Leaders of the North and South
Civil War Chronicles
by Bill Sell
from MetroBooks
for 7th-Adult
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$5.60 (1 in stock)
Liberty or Death
by Margaret Whitman Blair
from National Geographic
for 4th-9th grade
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$3.20 (1 in stock)
Life & Times of Washington
by Mario Rivoire, translated by C.J. Richards
from Arnoldo Mondadori Editore
Biography for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Lincoln: A Photobiography
by Russell Freedman
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 5th-9th grade
1988 Newbery Medal winner
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.40 (2 in stock)
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrator unknown
Undated from M. A. Donohue & Company
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy
by Gary D. Schmidt
from Scholastic Inc.
for 7th-9th grade
2005 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Lone Bull's Horse Raid
by Paul and Dorothy Goble, Illustrated by Paul Goble
from Bradbury Press
for 7th-12th grade
in Native American History (Location: HISA-19NAT)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Long and Uncertain Journey
by Joan Goodman, Illustrated by Tom McNeely
from Mikaya Press
for 3rd-8th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
M. C. Higgins, the Great
by Virginia Hamilton
from Simon and Schuster
for 6th-10th grade
1975 Newbery Medal Winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Making of America
by Robert D. Johnston
from National Geographic
for 6th-9th grade
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Marco Polo and the Medieval Explorers
by Rebecca Stefoff
from Chelsea House Publishing
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Maria
by Maria von Trapp
from Creation House
for 7th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Mathew Brady
by James D. Horan
from Bonanza Books
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
Mirror of War: The Washington Star Reports the Civil War
by John W. Stepp, I. William Hill
from Prentice Hall
for 8th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Mountain Men
by George Frederick Ruxton, edited and illustrated by Glen Rounds
from Holiday House
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Mr. Lincoln's Army
by Bruce Catton
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
Historical Fiction for 7th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
My Brother Sam Is Dead
by James & Christopher Collier
from Four Winds Press
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
1975 Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
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