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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1421: The Year China Discovered America
by Gavin Menzies
1st edition from William Morrow & Company
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
1491
by Charles C. Mann
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1861: The Civil War Awakening
by Adam Goodheart
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1944: FDR and the Year That Changed History
by Jay Winik
from Simon and Schuster
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500 Nations
by Alvin M. Josephy, Jr.
1st edition from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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$20.00 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Davy Crockett
by David Crockett, illustrated by John W. Thomason
from Charles Scribner's Sons
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Age of Fighting Sail
by C. S. Forester
1st edition from Doubleday & Company
American Naval History for 8th-Adult
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Air Forces of the World
by Sue Butterworth, editor
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Alexander Hamilton
by Ron Chernow
from Penguin Random House
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Amazing Mr. Doolittle
by Quentin Reynolds
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America the Beautiful/ A Man of Destiny
by the editors of Country Beautiful Magazine
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America's Christian History
by Gary DeMar
2nd edition from American Vision Press
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
America's Providential History
by Mark Beliles & Stephen McDowell
from Providence Foundation
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$8.00 (6 in stock)
American Barns and Covered Bridges
by Eric Sloane
1st edition from Wilfred Funk, Inc.
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$15.00 (1 in stock)
American Children Through Their Books
by Sister Monica Kiefer
1970 printing from University of Pennsylvania Press
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American Civil War
by Robert K. Krick
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American Covenant
by Marshall Foster
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
American Dream
by Stephen K. McDowell & Mark Beliles
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
American Heritage History of the American Revolution
by Bruce Lancaster
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American Heritage History of the Indian Wars
by Robert M. Utley, Wilcomb E. Washburn
Revised from American Heritage Publishing Co.
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
American Indian Dances
by John L. Squires & Robert E. McLean
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American Passage
by Vincent J. Cannato
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
American President
by Philip Kunhardt, Jr., Philip Kunhardt III, Peter Kunhardt
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
American Story: The Revolutionaries
Time-Life: The American Story
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
American Yesterday
by Eric Sloane
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Americanization of Benjamin Franklin
by Gordon S. Wood
from Penguin Books
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Amistad
by Helen Kromer
from The Pilgrim Press
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Andersonville
by MacKinlay Kantor
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1955 Pulitzer Prize Winner
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Anne Bradstreet
by Heidi L. Nichols
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Are We to Be a Nation?
by Richard B. Bernstein, with Kym S. Rice
from Harvard University Press
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Atlas of the North American Indian
by Carl Waldman
1st edition from Facts On File
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Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
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by James Weldon Johnson
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Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
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by Benjamin Franklin
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Autobiography of William Allen White
by William Allen White
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B. Franklin, Printer
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Bad Faith
by Carmen Callil
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Battle from the Start
by Brian Steel Wills
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Battle of Gettysburg
by Frank A. Haskell & William C. Oates
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Beechcraft: Pursuit of Perfection
by Edward H. Phillips
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Beginning of the Republic
A Basic History of the United States Volume 2
by Clarence B. Carson
from American Textbook Committee
American History Reference for 9th-Adult
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Behind the Scenes
by Elizabeth Keckley, edited by Frances Smith Foster
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Better a Shield Than a Sword
by Edward Teller
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Between the Lines
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Black & Tan
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Black Odyssey
by Mary Cable
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Blow Ye Winds Westerly
by Elizabeth Gemming
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Blue and the Gray
by Thomas B. Allen, Photography by Sam Abell
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Boston
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Brave Men
by Ernie Pyle
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British are Coming
The Revolution Trilogy #1 of 3
by Rick Atkinson
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Buffalo Bill and the Wild West
by Henry Blackman Sell and Victor Weybright
Reprint from International Cody Family Assoc.
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Burma Surgeon
by Gordon S. Seagrave
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Butter in the Well: Historical Diary 1868-1888
by Linda K. Hubalek
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Captain Cook R. N. the Resolute Mariner
by Thomas Vaughan and A. A. St. C. M. Murray-Oliver
from Oregon Historical Society Press
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Captured!
by Carolyn Paine Miller
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Cheer the Lonesome Traveller
by Leslie Alexander Lacy, illustrated by James Barkley
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Chickamauga
by Glenn Tucker
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Chief Joseph Country
by Bill Gulick
3rd Printing 1994 from Caxton Press
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Christian Life and Character of the Civil United States
by Benjamin F. Morris
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Christianity and the Constitution
by John Eidsmoe
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Christopher Columbus and His Legacy
Opposing Viewpoints Series
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Christopher Columbus: His Story and His Journals
Knowledge Keepers Home Library Series 1492
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Churchill: Walking with Destiny
by Andrew Roberts
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Civil War Book of Facts
by Frank Burd
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Civil War Songbook
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Civil War: 1850-1895
American History by Era Volume 5
by Auriana Ojeda, book editor
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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 Experience
A Basic History of the United States Volume 1
by Clarence B. Carson
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Colonial Period: 1607-1750
American History by Era Volume 2
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Comes the Comrade!
by Alexandra Orme, translated from the Polish by M.A. Michael and L. Meyer
from William Morrow & Company
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Coming Fury
Centennial History of the Civil War Volume 1
by Bruce Catton
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Confederate War
by Gary W. Gallagher
from Harvard University Press
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Conquerors
by Michael Beschloss
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Constitutional Law for Enlightened Citizens - Text
by Michael Farris
2nd edition from Home School Legal Defense Association
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Cry from the Earth
by John Bierhorst
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Crying for a Vision
by Walter Wangerin Jr.
from Simon & Schuster Macmillan
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Cut & Assemble the Mayflower
by A. G. Smith
2020 Reprint from Dover Publications
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Dead and Those About to Die
by John C. McManus
from New American Library
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Death Valley Scotty
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Defeating the Totalitarian Lie
by Hilmar Von Campe
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Defining Moment
by Jonathan Alter
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Design Line: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
by Chris Oxlade, Edited by Jenny Broom, Illustrated by Mike Lemanski
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Destroyers for Great Britain
by Arnold Hague
Revised & Expanded from US Naval Institute Press
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Devil in Massachusetts
by Marion L. Starkey
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Dietrich Bonhoeffer: An Evangelical Reassessment
by Georg Huntemann
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Early American Republic: 1789-1829
by Paul E. Johnson
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Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men
by Jeffrey Rogers Hummel
1st edition from Open Court Publishing
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$6.00 (2 in stock)
Embattled Rebel
by James M. McPherson
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Era Of Colonization & Settlement 1600-1760's
by Kathy Sammis
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Fallen Angels
by Walter Dean Myers
from Scholastic Inc.
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FDR
by Jean Edward Smith
from Random House
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Fighting for Liberty and Virtue
by Marvin Olasky
from Crossway Books
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Flag Book of the United States
by Whitney Smith
Revised Edition from William Morrow & Company
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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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Foods of the Americas
from Ten Speed Press
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Forever Free
by Eric Foner, illustrations edited with commentary by Joshua Brown
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Forgotten Ellis Island
by Lorie Conway
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$12.00 (2 in stock)
Fortune of War
Aubrey/Maturin #6
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
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$14.95 $6.50 (1 in stock)
Founders of Freedom in America
by David C. Whitney
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Freighters and Pilgrims
Knowledge Keepers Home Library Series 1865
by Charles E. Young and Sarah Raymond Herndon
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
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