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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174 Items found Print
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1776
by David McCullough
1st edition from Simon and Schuster
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
1944: FDR and the Year That Changed History
by Jay Winik
from Simon and Schuster
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
500 Nations
by Alvin M. Josephy, Jr.
1st edition from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
in Native American History (Location: HISA-19NAT)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Air Forces of the World
by Sue Butterworth, editor
from Chartwell Books
for 9th-Adult
in Aviation History (Location: HISV-AVIA)
$14.40 (1 in stock)
Amazing Mr. Doolittle
by Quentin Reynolds
from Appleton-Century-Crofts
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
America the Beautiful/ A Man of Destiny
by the editors of Country Beautiful Magazine
from Country Beautiful
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.40 (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 Children Through Their Books
by Sister Monica Kiefer
1970 printing from University of Pennsylvania Press
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
American Heritage History of the American Revolution
by Bruce Lancaster
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
American Heritage History of the Indian Wars
by Robert M. Utley, Wilcomb E. Washburn
Revised from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 6th-Adult
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
American Indian Dances
by John L. Squires & Robert E. McLean
from The Ronald Press Co.
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
American President
by Philip Kunhardt, Jr., Philip Kunhardt III, Peter Kunhardt
from Riverhead Books
for Adult
in American Presidency (Location: HISV-PRE)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
American Story: The Revolutionaries
Time-Life: The American Story
from Time-Life Books
for Adult
in American Revolution (1765-1783) (Location: HISA-18REV)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
American Yesterday
by Eric Sloane
15th Printing from Funk & Wagnalls
for 5th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
Andersonville
by MacKinlay Kantor
from World Publishing Company
for 9th-Adult
1955 Pulitzer Prize Winner
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Autobiography of William Allen White
by William Allen White
from Macmillan
for Adult
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$6.40 (1 in stock)
B. Franklin, Printer
by David A. Adler
from Holiday House
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in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.40 (2 in stock)
Bad Faith
by Carmen Callil
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Battle from the Start
by Brian Steel Wills
from HarperCollins
for 9th grade-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Beechcraft: Pursuit of Perfection
by Edward H. Phillips
from Flying Books
for Adult
in Aviation History (Location: HISV-AVIA)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Behind the Scenes
by Elizabeth Keckley, edited by Frances Smith Foster
from Lakeside Press
for 10th-Adult
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$6.40 (1 in stock)
Better a Shield Than a Sword
by Edward Teller
from Free Press
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Blow Ye Winds Westerly
by Elizabeth Gemming
1st edition from Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.
for 9th-Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Blue and the Gray
by Thomas B. Allen, Photography by Sam Abell
from National Geographic
for Adult
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
Boston
from Crescent Books
for 4th-Adult
in U.S. Monuments & Symbols (Location: HISV-LANUS)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Brave Men
by Ernie Pyle
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
British are Coming
The Revolution Trilogy #1 of 3
by Rick Atkinson
from Henry Holt and Company
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Burma Surgeon
by Gordon S. Seagrave
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
by Dee Brown
from Holt McDougal
for 9th-Adult
in Native American History (Location: HISA-19NAT)
$20.39
Captain Cook R. N. the Resolute Mariner
by Thomas Vaughan and A. A. St. C. M. Murray-Oliver
from Oregon Historical Society Press
Museum Exhibition Catalog for Adult
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
Captured!
by Carolyn Paine Miller
1st edition from Christian Herald Books
for Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
Cheer the Lonesome Traveller
by Leslie Alexander Lacy, illustrated by James Barkley
from Dial Press
for 9th-Adult
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Chickamauga
by Glenn Tucker
from Konecky & Konecky
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Chief Joseph Country
by Bill Gulick
3rd Printing 1994 from Caxton Press
for 8th-Adult
in Native American History (Location: HISA-19NAT)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Christian Life and Character of the Civil United States
by Benjamin F. Morris
from American Vision Press
for 9th-Adult
in America's Christian Heritage (Location: HISA-CH)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
Comes the Comrade!
by Alexandra Orme, translated from the Polish by M.A. Michael and L. Meyer
from William Morrow & Company
for 10th-Adult
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$3.20 (1 in stock)
Coming Fury
Centennial History of the Civil War Volume 1
by Bruce Catton
from Doubleday & Company
for Adult
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$6.40 (1 in stock)
Conquerors
by Michael Beschloss
from Simon and Schuster
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Constitution of the United States of America
by Founding Fathers
from Applewood Books
Primary Source Documents for 9th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$8.46
Cry from the Earth
by John Bierhorst
from Four Winds Press
for 6th-Adult
in Native American History (Location: HISA-19NAT)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
Crying for a Vision
by Walter Wangerin Jr.
from Simon & Schuster Macmillan
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in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Dead and Those About to Die
by John C. McManus
from New American Library
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Death Valley Scotty
from Trans-Anglo Press
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$12.80 (1 in stock)
Destroyers for Great Britain
by Arnold Hague
Revised & Expanded from US Naval Institute Press
for Adult
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$7.20 (1 in stock)
Embattled Rebel
by James M. McPherson
from Penguin Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
Fighting for Liberty and Virtue
by Marvin Olasky
from Crossway Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Flag Book of the United States
by Whitney Smith
Revised Edition from William Morrow & Company
for 8th-Adult
in U.S. Monuments & Symbols (Location: HISV-LANUS)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Foods of the Americas
from Ten Speed Press
for Adult
in Food & Farming Around the World (Location: HISMC-FOOD)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
Founders of Freedom in America
by David C. Whitney
from J. G. Ferguson Publishing Co.
for Adult
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$6.40 (1 in stock)
Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
by Gordon S. Wood
from Penguin Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
From a Name to a Number
by Alter Wiener
from Authorhouse
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$10.40 (1 in stock)
From Flappers to Flivvers...
from Reminisce Books
for 9th-Adult
in Roaring Twenties (1919-1929) (Location: HISA-20s)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
Gettysburg: Battle & Battlefield
by W. C. Storrick
from Barnes & Noble
for 9th-Adult
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Gettysburg: The Last Invasion
by Allen C. Guelzo
from Vintage Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Give Me Liberty
Leaders in Action Series
by David Vaughan
from Cumberland House
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Leaders in Action (Location: BIO-LIA)
$17.95 $10.00 (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 Adventures That Changed Our World
from Reader's Digest
for 10th-Adult
in Modern History (Location: HISW-MOD)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Greatest Generation
by Tom Brokaw
1st edition from Random House
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Greatest Generation Speaks
by Tom Brokaw
1st edition from Random House
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (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)
Hidden Life of Otto Frank
by Carol Ann Lee
from William Morrow & Company
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$3.20 (1 in stock)
History of Human Society: Pioneer America
The History of Human Society
by John R. Alden
1st edition from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
History of the United States
by Alexander H. Stephens
1999 reproduction from American Foundation Publications
for Adult
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
Hitler
by Ernst Hanfstaengl, translated and introduction by John Willard Toland, Afterword by Egon Hanfstaegl
from Arcade Publishing
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
Hostile Skies
by James J. Hudson
1st edition from Syracuse University Press
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
House Divided
by Ben Ames Williams, jacket & illustrations by Reginald Marsh
from Houghton Mifflin
for 10th-Adult
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$16.00 (1 in stock)
Ike's Bluff
by Evan Thomas
from Little, Brown & Company
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Impossible Escape
by Steve Sheinkin
from Roaring Brook Press
for 9th-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.99
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)
In My Father's House
by Corrie Ten Boom
First Edition from Revell Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.20 (2 in stock)
In the Arena: A Memoir of Victory, Defeat and Renewal
by Richard Nixon
1st edition from Simon & Schuster Macmillan
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Indians of the Woodlands
by George E. Hyde
from University of Oklahoma Press
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Jacksonland
by Steve Inskeep
from Penguin Press
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Jefferson Davis and His Generals
by Steven E. Woodworth
from University Press of Kansas
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
John Brown Russwurm
by Mary Sagarin, Introduction by Ernest Kaiser
1st edition from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
John Brown's Body
by Stephen Vincent Benet
from Rinehart & Company, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
Pulitzer Prize Winner
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
John Wanamaker: King of Merchants
by William Allen Zulker
from Eaglecrest Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Jonathan Edwards
by Iain H. Murray
from Banner of Truth Trust
for 11th-Adult
in Clearance: Christian Books (Location: XCLE)
$23.10
Joshua Barney
by Ralph D. Paine
from Century Co.
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Killer Angels
by Michael Shaara
1st edition from Ballantine Books
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$5.60 (1 in stock)
Land as God Made It
by James Horn
from Basic Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Last of the Mohicans
Leatherstocking Tales #2
by James Fenimore Cooper
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Realistic Action/Adventure Novel for 9th-Adult
in Scribner Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SCRIB)
$21.24
Laura Ingalls Wilder: Pioneer Girl
by Laura Ingalls Wilder, edited by Pamela Smith Hill
from South Dakota State Historical Society Press
for 7th-Adult
in Little House Materials (Location: LIR-LHM)
$39.99
Leaders of the North and South
Civil War Chronicles
by Bill Sell
from MetroBooks
for 7th-Adult
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$5.60 (1 in stock)
Leafy Rivers
by Jessamyn West
First Edition from Harcourt, Brace & World
for 11th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Lexington Goes Down
by A. A. Hoehling
from Prentice Hall
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Liberators
by Michael Hirsh
from Bantam Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Liberty Ships
by John Gorley Bunker
from US Naval Institute Press
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Liberty: The Statue and the American Dream
by Leslie Allen
from Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation
for 9th-Adult
in Immigration & Emigration (Location: HISA-20IM)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Life and Diary of David Brainerd
by David Brainerd
from Moody Press
Biography for 10th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$19.20 (1 in stock)
Life of Andrew Jackson
by John S. Jenkins
from New Leaf Press
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$13.50
Life of John Newton
by American Missionary Fellowship
from Attic Books
for 10th-Adult
in Clearance: Biographies (Location: ZCLE-BIO)
$9.50
Life on the Mississippi
Signet Classics
by Mark Twain
from Harper & Brothers
Autobiography for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
Lonely but Not Alone
by HRH Wilhelmina, Princess of the Netherlands
from McGraw-Hill
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
Making Friends with Hitler
by Ian Kershaw
from Penguin Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Marching Home
by Kevin Coyne
from Viking Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Maria
by Maria von Trapp
from Creation House
for 7th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Mark Twain
by Edward Wagenknecht
2nd Printing, 1962 from University of Oklahoma Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Massacre at Fall Creek
by Jessamyn West
from Harcourt Brace Jovanich
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.80 (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)
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