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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149 Items found Print
Active Filters: Historical Fiction, 7th grade (Ages 12-13), Trade Paperback
Balloon Boy of San Francisco
by Dorothy Kupcha Leland
from Tomato Enterprises
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Battle of Seattle
by Douglas Bond
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Beckoning Road
by Caroline Dale Snedeker
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American Historical Fiction for 7th-12th Grade
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Behind the Bedroom Wall
by Laura E. Williams
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Black Radishes
by Susan Lynn Meyer
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Blood on the River: James Town, 1607
by Elisa Carbone
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Blue Birds
by Caroline Starr Rose
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Bold Journey
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Bold Journey
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Boris
by Jaap Ter Haar
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Boy in the Alamo
by Margaret Cousins
from Corona Publishing Co.
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Boy in the Alamo
by Margaret Cousins
from Veritas Press
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$19.00
Boys in the Boat adapted for Young Readers
by Daniel James Brown, adapted by Gregory Mone
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Bull Run
by Paul Fleischman, David Frampton (Woodcuts)
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By Right of Conquest
by G. A. Henty
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Calico Captive
by Elizabeth George Speare
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Captain Bayley's Heir
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Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
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1956 Newbery Medal winner
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Cleared for Action!
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Come On, Seabiscuit!
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Day of Pleasure
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Day the World Stopped Turning
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Don't You Know There's a War On?
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Early Thunder
by Jean Fritz
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Echoes of the White Giraffe
by Sook Nyul Choi
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Elephant Run
by Roland Smith
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Enemy Brothers
Bethlehem Books Living History Library
by Constance Savery
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Exiled to the Red River
Trailblazer Books
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Exiled to the Red River
Trailblazer Books
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Faith and Freedom Trilogy
Faith and Freedom
by Douglas Bond
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$33.97
Farewell to Manzanar
by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
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Father's Promise
by Donna Hess
from Bob Jones University Press
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Fear in the Forest
by Cateau de Leeuw
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Fever 1793
by Laurie Halse Anderson
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Fiddler's Green
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$16.99
Fiddler's Gun
by A. S. Peterson
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Fighting Ground
by Avi
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First Four Years
Little House Series #9
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
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Forty-Acre Swindle
TrailBlazer Books
by Dave & Neta Jackson
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Forty-Acre Swindle
TrailBlazer Books
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Give Me Liberty
by L. M. Elliott
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Glory Be
by Augusta Scattergood
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Gone Crazy in Alabama
by Rita Williams-Garcia
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Coretta Scott King Award
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Great Wheel
by Robert Lawson
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1958 Newbery Honor Book
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Grim Reaper
Shadow Series #3
by Piet Prins
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Growing Up Dakota
by Charles Alexander Eastman, Edited and Illustrated by Charlene Notgrass
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Gunner's Run
by Rick Barry
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Guns of Thunder
Faith and Freedom Trilogy #1
by Doug Bond
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Heart Strangely Warmed
by Louise A. Vernon
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Hideout in the Swamp
Shadow Series #2
by Piet Prins
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I Am David
by Anne Holm
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In the Hands of the Cave Dwellers
by G. A. Henty
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In the Heart of the Rockies
by G. A. Henty
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In This Hour
by Rudolf Van Reest
from Inheritance Publications
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Inside Out & Back Again
by Thanhha Lai
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Narrative Poetry / Novel-In-Verse for 4th-8th grade
2012 Newbery Honor Book
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Inside Out & Back Again
by Thanhha Lai
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Narrative Poetry / Novel-In-Verse for 4th-8th grade
2012 Newbery Honor Book
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Iron Peacock
by Mary Stetson Clark
from Avyx, Inc.
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Iron Scouts of the Confederacy
by Lee McGiffin
2nd edition from Christian Liberty Press
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Iron Scouts of the Confederacy
by Lee McGiffin
2nd edition from Christian Liberty Press
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Jar of Dreams
by Yoshiko Uchida
2nd edition from Aladdin Paperbacks
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John Treegate's Musket
Treegate Series Book 1
by Leonard Wibberly
from Bethlehem Books
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Journey to Topaz
by Yoshiko Uchida
from Heyday Books
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Journey to Topaz
by Yoshiko Uchida
from Heyday Books
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Journey West on the Oregon Trail
by Cecile Alyce Nolan
from Rain Dance Publishing
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Journeyman
by Elizabeth Yates
from Bob Jones University Press
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King of the Mound
by Wes Tooke
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Letter Writer
by Ann Rinaldi
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Listen for the Whippoorwill
Trailblazer Books
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Listen for the Whippoorwill
Trailblazer Books
by Dave & Neta Jackson
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Little House - Full Color Trade Paper Set
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
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$75.11
Little Town on the Prairie
Little House Series #7
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
1942 Newbery Honor Book
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$8.99
Little Town on the Prairie
Little House Series #7
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
1942 Newbery Honor Book
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$9.99
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy
by Gary D. Schmidt
from Clarion Books
for 7th-9th grade
2005 Newbery Honor Book
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$7.99
Lonely Sentinel
Shadow Series #1
by Piet Prins
from Inheritance Publications
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
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$10.95
Long Winter
Little House Series #6
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
1941 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.99
Long Winter
Little House Series #6
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
1941 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$10.99
Madeleine Takes Command
Bethlehem Books Living History Library
by Ethel Brill
from Bethlehem Books
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
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$14.95 $9.00 (1 in stock)
May B.
by Caroline Starr Rose
from Yearling
Narrative Poetry / Novel-In-Verse for 4th-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.99
Moon Over Manifest
by Clare Vanderpool
from Yearling
for 6th-10th grade
2011 Newbery Medal Winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Morgan the Jersey Spy
Adventures in History Series
by James Otis
from A Beka Books
for 4th-8th grade
in A Beka Book Report books (Location: REA-ABK)
Mr. Lincoln's Drummer
by G. Clifton Wisler
from Lodestar Books
for 5th-7th grade
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Mr. Lincoln's Drummer
by G. Clifton Wisler
from Puffin Books
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North to Freedom
by Anne Holm
from Harcourt
for 4th-7th grade
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Number the Stars
by Lois Lowry
Reissue from Sandpiper Books
for 5th-8th grade
1990 Newbery Medal winner
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$9.99
Ocean-Born Mary
by Lois Lenski
1st Edition Thus from Purple House Press
for 3rd-10th grade
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$17.99
On the Edge of the Fjord
by Alta Halverson Seymour
from Bethlehem Books
for 4th-8th grade
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On to Oregon!
by Honore Morrow
from William Morrow & Company
for 4th-8th grade
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One Crazy Summer
by Rita Williams-Garcia
Reprint from Amistad Press
for 4th-7th grade
2011 Newbery Honor Book, National Book Award, Coretta Scott King Award, Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.99
Out on the Pampas
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
P.S. Be Eleven
by Rita Williams-Garcia
Reprint from Amistad Press
for 4th-7th grade
Coretta Scott King Award
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$8.99
Partisans
Shadow Series #4
by Piet Prins
from Inheritance Publications
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
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Patty Reed's Doll
by Rachel K. Laurgaard
from Tomato Enterprises
Historical fiction for 5th-8th grade
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$7.00 (3 in stock)
Peter Treegate's War
by Leonard Wibberley
from Bethlehem Books
for 7th-10th grade
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Pocahontas
by Joseph Bruchac
from Harcourt
for 4th-7th grade
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$7.99
Reb and the Redcoats
Bethlehem Books Living History Library
by Constance Savery
from Bethlehem Books
Historical fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$14.95
Redskin and Cowboy
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
Remember the Alamo!
Adventures in History Series
by Amelia E. Barr
from A Beka Books
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in A Beka Book Report books (Location: REA-ABK)
Resistance
by Jennifer A. Nielsen
from Scholastic Inc.
for 6th-9th grade
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$8.99
Roger the Ranger
by Eliza F. Pollard
from Inheritance Publications
for 6th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$14.95
Sabotage
Shadow Series #5
by Piet Prins
from Inheritance Publications
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
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$10.95
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