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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About Our Flag
by Elinor Rees; illustrated by Jerome W. Bowen
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Abraham Lincoln
Weekly Reader Heroes of the Civil War
by Susan Dye Lee, illustrated by Ralph Canaday
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Road Trip: National Parks
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American Revolution
Revolution!
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Among the Plains Indians
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Battle of Valcour Bay
Triangle Histories: The Revolutionary War
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Ben Franklin
See and Read: Beginning to Read Biography
by Estelle Friedman, illustrated by James Caraway
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Benjamin Franklin
Makers of America
by Ruth Cromer Weir, illustrated by Rus Anderson
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Black Courage
by A. E. Schraff
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Colonial American Craftsmen
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Christmas on the Prairie
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Claim to the Wilderness
by Peter John Stephens
First Edition, First Printing from W. W. Norton and Co.
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Clara Barton: Civil War Nurse
Historical American Biographies
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Cliff Dwellers of Walnut Canyon
by Carroll Lane Fenton and Alice Epstein, illustrated by Albert Orbaan and Carroll Lane Fenton
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Colonial Places
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Confederate Girl: The Diary of Carrie Berry, 1864
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Cook: Captain James Cook Charts the Pacific Ocean
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by John R. Milton
Second Printing 1975 from Dillon Press
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by Ann Turner; illustrated by Ronald Himler
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by Leonard Everett Fisher
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by F. N. Monjo
from HarperCrest
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Cadmus Edition from E.M. Hale and Company
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by Katie Bagley
from Bridgestone Books
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Weekly Reader Heroes of the Revolution
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by Sonia Bleeker, illustrated by Patricia Boodell
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from Franklin Watts
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Picture Book Biography for Kindergarten-3rd grade
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Gray-Wolf's Indian Culture series
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Gray-Wolf's Indian Culture series
by Robert Hofsinde
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Gray-Wolf's Indian Culture series
by Robert Hofsinde
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Indian Fishing and Camping
Gray-Wolf's Indian Culture series
by Robert Hofsinde
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Gray-Wolf's Indian Culture series
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Gray-Wolf's Indian Culture series
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Gray-Wolf's Indian Culture series
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Gray-Wolf's Indian Culture series
by Robert Hofsinde
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Indians of Mexico
A Book to Begin On
by Margaret C. Farquhar, illustrated by Mel Klapholz
First Edition from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
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Jefferson Davis
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from Capstone Press
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by Naomi Buchheimer, illustrated by Albert Micale
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
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from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
1942 Newbery Honor Book
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from G.P. Putnam's Sons
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by Betsy Maestro
from HarperCollins
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by Emilie U. Lepthien
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by Frances Cavanah, illustrated by Janice Holland
from Rand McNally
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Colonial American Craftsmen
by Leonard Everett Fisher
from Franklin Watts
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by Stuart A. Kallen
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by Leonard Everett Fisher
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Peter Jumping Horse at the Stampede
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Ponce de Leon
by Trish Kline
from Rourke Publishing
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Colonial American Craftsmen
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from Franklin Watts
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by Leonard Everett Fisher
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from Capstone Press
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from Millbrook Press
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by Patricia Reilly Giff
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from National Geographic
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from Franklin Watts
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by William H. Armstrong
from Harper & Row
Realistic Fiction for 3rd-8th grade
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by Lorenz Graham
from Follett Publishing Co.
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by Jennifer Silate
from PowerKids Press
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by Peggy Pancella
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from Dodd, Mead & Co.
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from Capstone Press
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from Marshall Cavendish Education
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Timeline of Congress
Timelines of American History
by Lisa Modifica
1st edition from Rosen Central
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
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by Judith Levin
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
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Timelines of American History
by Lisa Modifica
1st edition from Rosen Central
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in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
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