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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11 Days in December
by Stanley Weintraub
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1776
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1861: The Civil War Awakening
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20 Plays for U. S. History Classes
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20th Century Wars
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Aaron and the Green Mountain Boys
by Patricia Lee Gauch, illustrated by Margot Tomes
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Abe Lincoln Goes to Washington
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Abraham Lincoln
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Abraham Lincoln
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Abraham Lincoln's World
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Abraham Lincoln: The Man & His Faith
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Adventures of the American Revolution
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After Tupac & D Foster
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Age of Fighting Sail
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Al Capone Does My Shirts
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Perspectives on History Series
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Alexander Graham Bell
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Alexander Hamilton
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All That Glitters
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Allen Jay and the Underground Railroad
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Almost Home
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Amazing Impossible Erie Canal
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America and Vietnam
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America First updated
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America from the Beginning - Student Manual
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America in the Time of Abraham Lincoln
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America's Christian History
by Gary DeMar
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America's Longest War
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America's Paul Revere
by Esther Forbes
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America's Providential History
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America's War Heroes
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American Army of Two
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American Civil War
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American Civil War
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American Covenant
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American History in Black & White
by David Barton
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American History in Verse
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American Passage
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American Revolution
America at War Series
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American Revolutionaries
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American Twins of the Revolution
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American Waterways: Canal Days
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Americanization of Benjamin Franklin
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Amistad
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Amistad: A Long Road to Freedom
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Ancient Maya
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And There Was Light
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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 Frank: Beyond the Diary
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Apples to Oregon
by Deborah Hopkinson
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Arctic Explorer
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Arguing about Slavery
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Around the World in a Hundred Years
by Jean Fritz
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Ashes
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Atlas of North American Exploration
by Glyndwr Williams, William H. Goetzmann
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by Faith Ringgold
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Aurora Means Dawn
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Autobiography of Josiah Henson
by Josiah Henson
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Avion My Uncle Flew
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1947 Newbery Honor Book
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by Robert Nicholson and Claire Watts
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Band of Brothers
by Stephen Ambrose, Foreword by Tom Hanks
25th anniversary from Simon and Schuster
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Barbary Pirates
Sterling Point Books
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Naval History for 5th-8th grade
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Baseball Saved Us
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Basic History of the United States - Complete Set with Teacher's Guide
by Clarence B. Carson
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Oxford History of the United States
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Sterling Point Books
by Theodore Taylor
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by Douglas Bond
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by Mark Henckel
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