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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10,000 Days of Thunder
by Philip Caputo
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100 African-Americans Who Shaped American History
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1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving
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1812: The War and the World
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19th Century Railway Station
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20th Century in America Lap-Pak
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500 Facts: American History for Kids
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Aaron and the Green Mountain Boys
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Abe Lincoln
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Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance
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Abraham Lincoln
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Dear America
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Addy Learns a Lesson
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Addy Learns a Lesson
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Adopted by Indians
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Adventures of Lewis and Clark
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Africa Is My Home
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After the War
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Akavak
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Alaska Bush Pilot
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Alaska Gold Rush
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Alexander Graham Bell
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Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr
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Alexander Hamilton: The Outsider
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All About Aviation
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All Through the Ages
by Christine Miller
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World History Reference for All grades
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Allen Jay and the Underground Railroad
On My Own History
by Marlene Targ Brill
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Almost Home
Daughters of the Faith
by Wendy G. Lawton
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Amazing Impossible Erie Canal
by Cheryl Harness
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Amelia Earhart
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Childhood of Famous Americans
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Childhood of Famous Americans
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America - with CD
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America and Its Presidents
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America At War: Korean War
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America Grows Up
A History for Peter #2
by Gerald W. Johnson
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America In Korean War
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America in the 1900s and 1910s
Decades of American History
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Decades of American History
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Decades of American History
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Decades of American History
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America in the 1970s
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America in the 1990s
by George Ochoa
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America in the Time of George Washington
by Sally Senzell Isaacs
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America in the Time of Lewis and Clark
by Sally Senzel Isaacs
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America is Born
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America Moves Forward
A History for Peter #3
by Gerald W. Johnson
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America Moves Forward
A History for Peter #3
by Gerald W. Johnson
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America's Ethan Allen
by Stewart H. Holbrook; illustrated by Lynd Ward
9th printing from Houghton Mifflin
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1950 Caldecott Honor Book
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America's First Ladies - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Leslie Franz
Revised Edition from Dover Publications
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$5.09
America's First World War
Landmark #77
by Henry Castor, illustrated by Albert Orbaan
from Random House
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America's Lost Dream
by Tom Dooley
from Master Books
American History for 4th-6th grade
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$12.79 $8.00 (2 in stock)
America's Paul Revere
by Esther Forbes
from Sandpiper Books
Biography for 2nd-6th grade
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$11.04
America's Robert E. Lee
by Henry Steele Commager, illustrated by Lynd Ward
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America's War Heroes
What a Character! Notable Lives from History
by Marilyn Boyer
from Master Books
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American Adventures
by Elizabeth Coatsworth, illustrated by Robert Frankenberg
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American Adventures Part 1
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American Adventures Part 2
by Morrie Greenberg
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$6.00 (2 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 Fairy Tales
1st edition from Hyperion Books for Children
for 3rd-Adult
American Family of the Colonial Era - Paper Dolls
by Tom Tierney
from Dover Publications
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in Dover Paper Dolls (Location: COL-DOLL)
American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans - 12 Volume Set
from Dell Publishing
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American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 1
from Dell Publishing
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in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
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American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 10
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American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 11
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American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 12
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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 3
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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 7
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