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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20th Century Wars
by Robert W. Smith
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Abe Lincoln Grows Up
by Carl Sandburg
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America from the Beginning - Student Manual
by Joshua Franklin, Debbie Lawrence
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American Waterways: Canal Days
by Jeanne Munn Bracken, ed.
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Amistad Slave Revolt and American Abolition
by Karen Zeinert
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Amistad: A Long Road to Freedom
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Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary
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Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary
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Atlas of North American Exploration
by Glyndwr Williams, William H. Goetzmann
Oklahoma Paperbacks Ed from University of Oklahoma Press
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Battle of the Little Bighorn
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Behind Enemy Lines
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Big Annie of Calumet
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Black Heroes of the American Revolution
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Bold Journey
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Boys' War
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Buffalo Bill
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Bull Run
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Children of the Wild West
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Civil War
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Civil War
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Claudette Colvin
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2010 Newbery Honor Book, 2010 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book, National Book Award
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Colonial Town: Williamsburg
by Bobbie Kalman
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Colonial Triangular Trade: An Economy Based on Human Misery
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Come On, Seabiscuit!
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Cowboys of the Wild West
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Daniel Boone
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Era of Modernization Through the 1930s
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Cambridge Introduction to World History
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Explorers Who Got Lost
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Explorers Who Got Lost
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Eyewitness: Civil War
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Faith of Our Fathers: Scenes from American Church History
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Faith Unfurled
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Fall of Quebec
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Father's Promise
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Fighting Ground
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Fort Clatsop
by Daniel J. Dattilio
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Free Indeed
by Mark Sidwell
Expanded from Bob Jones University Press
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George Washington
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George Washington & the Founding of a Nation
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Give Me Liberty!
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Going Solo
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Gold Rush Dogs
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Grand Canyon and the Southwest
by Ansel Adams
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Great Battles of the Civil War
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Great Wheel
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1958 Newbery Honor Book
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Great World War II Projects You Can Build Yourself
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Heart Strangely Warmed
by Louise A. Vernon
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Helen Keller: The Story of My Life
by Helen Keller
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Hero Tales
by Theodore Roosevelt & Henry Cabot Lodge
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Heyday
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History News: Explorers
by Michael Johnstone
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History of US Book 1
History of US Book 1
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
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History of US Book 10
History of US Book 10
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
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History of US Book 2
History of US Book 2
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
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History of US Book 3
History of US Book 3
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
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History of US Book 3
by Joy Hakim
3rd edition from Oxford University
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History of US Book 4
History of US Book 4
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
in History of US (Location: HISA-HAKIM)
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History of US Book 6
History of US Book 6
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
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History of US Book 6
History of US Book 6
by Joy Hakim
3rd edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
in History of US (Location: HISA-HAKIM)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
History of US Book 7
History of US Book 7
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
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History of US Book 8
History of US Book 8
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
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History of US Book 8
History of US Book 8
by Joy Hakim
3rd edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
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History of US Book 9
History of US Book 9
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
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Incredible Grand Canyon
by Scott Thybony
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Indian Chiefs
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Indian How Book
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Industrial Revolution
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Inside Out & Back Again
by Thanhha Lai
Reprint from HarperCollins
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2012 Newbery Honor Book
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Interactive 3-D Maps: American History
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Iron Scouts of the Confederacy
by Lee McGiffin
2nd edition from Christian Liberty Press
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
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Jason Lee
Sowers Series
by Charles Ludwig
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Jed Smith
by Frank Latham
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John Paul Jones
Sterling Point Books
by Armstrong Sperry
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Journal of a Trapper
by Osborne Russell, edited by Aubrey L. Haines
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Juan Ponce de Leon
by Louise Chipley Slavicek
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Keeping Score
by Linda Sue Park
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Ladies Were Not Expected
by Dorothy Nafus Morrison
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Landmark History of the American People
by Daniel & Ruth Boorstin
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Landmark History of the American People Volume I
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Letter Writer
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Letters to Seabiscuit
by Compiled by Barbara Howard
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Life of General Stonewall Jackson
by Mary Williamson
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Biography for 7th-10th grade
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Life of Washington
by Josephine Pollard
from Beautiful Feet Books
Biography for 3rd-8th grade
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Lincoln: A Photobiography
by Russell Freedman
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 5th-9th grade
1988 Newbery Medal winner
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List
by C. D. Baker
from Preston Speed
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