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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20 Plays for U. S. History Classes
by Dean R. Bowman
Revised from Walch Publishing
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20th Century Wars
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Abe Lincoln Grows Up
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Abraham Lincoln's World
by Genevieve Foster, expanded by Joanna Foster
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Across America on an Emigrant Train
by Jim Murphy
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1994 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award
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After Tupac & D Foster
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2009 Newbery Honor Book
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Age of Fighting Sail
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Al Capone Does My Shirts
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Reprint from Puffin Books
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2005 Newbery Honor Book
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Perspectives on History Series
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All That Glitters
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America and Vietnam
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America from the Beginning - Student Manual
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America's War Heroes
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$10.39
American History in Verse
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American Waterways: Canal Days
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Anne Bradstreet
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1978 Newbery Honor Book
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Seeds of America #3
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Beckoning Road
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Blood on the River: James Town, 1607
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Boy in the Alamo
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Boy in the Alamo
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Boys' War
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Buffalo Bill
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Buffalo Hunt
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Bull Run
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By Right of Conquest
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Calico Captive
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Captain Bayley's Heir
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Captain, My Captain
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Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
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1956 Newbery Medal winner
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Seeds of America #1
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Christopher Columbus
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Civil War
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2010 Newbery Honor Book, 2010 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book, National Book Award
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Cleared for Action!
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Colonial Town: Williamsburg
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Colonial Triangular Trade: An Economy Based on Human Misery
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Come On, Seabiscuit!
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Coming to America
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Coolies
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Day of Pleasure
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Day the World Stopped Turning
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Diary of a Young Girl
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Diary of an Early American Boy
by Eric Sloane
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Diary of an Early American Boy
by Eric Sloane
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Diary of an Early American Boy
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Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Biography for 5th-8th grade
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DK Eyewitness: American Revolution
by Stuart Murray
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Do's and Don'ts of Yesteryear
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Draw 50 Boats, Ships, Trucks, and Trains
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Drive Thru History America with Dave Stotts: Foundations of Character - Book Only
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Dust Bowl
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by David C. King, ed.
from History Compass
Historical Non-fiction for 6th-9th grade
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Eagle and the Fort
by Dorothy Morrison
from Oregon Historical Society Press
Biography for 5th-8th grade
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Early Thunder
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Eating the Plates
by Lucille Recht Penner
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Echoes of the Civil War: The Blue
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Echoes of the Civil War: The Gray
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Historical Non-fiction for 6th-9th grade
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Education of Little Tree
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