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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18 Penny Goose
An I Can Read Book Level 3
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Dear America
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Adventures with the Santa Fe Trail
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African-Americans in the Thirteen Colonies
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Almost Home
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Alvin Ailey
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Amazing Impossible Erie Canal
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Childhood of Famous Americans
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America - with CD
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America At War: Korean War
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America Begins
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America from the Beginning - Student Manual
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America In Korean War
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America in the Time of Abraham Lincoln
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America in the Time of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
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America in the Time of Lewis and Clark
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America's First Ladies - Coloring Book
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America's Paul Revere
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America's Robert E. Lee
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American Army of Two
On My Own History
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American Fairy Tales
1st edition from Hyperion Books for Children
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American Family of the Colonial Era - Paper Dolls
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American History for Young Students I
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History Curriculum for 1st-5th grade
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American History for Young Students II
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History Curriculum for 1st-5th grade
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American History for Young Students III
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American History in Verse
by Burton Stevenson
from Bob Jones University Press
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$11.00
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American Indian in Words and Pictures
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American Moments
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American Pioneer Family - Paper Dolls
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American Presidents - Coloring Book
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$5.99
American Revolution
Revolution!
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American Twins of the Revolution
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Amerigo Vespucci
by Nina Brown Baker
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Amistad - Coloring Book
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Among the Plains Indians
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And Then What Happened, Paul Revere?
by Jean Fritz & Margot Tomes
from PaperStar Books
Biography for 2nd-4th grade
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$7.99
And Then What Happened, Paul Revere?
by Jean Fritz & Margot Tomes
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Biography for 2nd-4th grade
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And There Was America
by Roger Duvoisin
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Andrew Jackson
Getting to Know the U.S. Presidents
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Angel Child, Dragon Child
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Angel Knew Papa and the Dog
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Anne Frank's Story
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Anne of Jamestown
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Annie Oakley: Young Marksman
Childhood of Famous Americans
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$7.99
Antique Airplanes - Coloring Book
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Dover Coloring Books
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Sonia Bleeker's Tribes of the Americas
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Apples to Oregon
by Deborah Hopkinson
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$8.99
Aquila's Drinking Gourd
by Pamela Dell
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Around the World in a Hundred Years
by Jean Fritz
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Biography for 2nd-5th grade
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