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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American Civil War
by Robert K. Krick
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American Covenant
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American Waterways: Canal Days
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Amistad Slave Revolt and American Abolition
by Karen Zeinert
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Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary
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Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary
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Atlas of the North American Indian
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Behind Enemy Lines
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Behind the Blue and Gray
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Biography of James A. Garfield
Sons of Liberty Series
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Boy in the Alamo
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Buffalo Bill
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from University of Nebraska
Biography for 6th-9th grade
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Bulletproof George Washington
by David Barton
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Biography for 9th-adult
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Civil War Songbook
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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 Period: 1607-1750
American History by Era Volume 2
by Brenda Stalcup (editor)
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$7.70 (1 in stock)
Colonial Triangular Trade: An Economy Based on Human Misery
by Phyllis Raybin Emert, ed.
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Come On, Seabiscuit!
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Biography for 5th-9th grade
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Diary of a Young Girl
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Drive Thru History America with Dave Stotts: Foundations of Character - Book Only
by David Barton
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Eating the Plates
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Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men
by Jeffrey Rogers Hummel
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Europe Finds the World
Cambridge Introduction to World History
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Eyewitnesses at the Battle of Franklin
by David R. Logsdon
4th edition
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Faith of Our Fathers: Scenes from American Church History
by Mark Sidwell, editor
from Bob Jones University Press
Church History Reference for 7th-12th grade
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Fortune of War
Aubrey/Maturin #6
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
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Free Indeed
by Mark Sidwell
Expanded from Bob Jones University Press
Biography for 6th-12th grade
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From Sea to Shining Sea
by Peter Marshall & David Manuel
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American History Reference for 9th-Adult
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George Washington
Sterling Point Books
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Biography for 5th-9th grade
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George Washington & the Founding of a Nation
by Albert Marrin
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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 World War II Projects You Can Build Yourself
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Guide to America's Greatest Historic Places
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Helen Keller: The Story of My Life
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Autobiography for 7th-10th grade
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Biography for 7th-10th grade
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Heyday
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History of US Book 1
History of US Book 1
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
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History of US Book 10
History of US Book 10
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
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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
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History of US Book 3
by Joy Hakim
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History of US Book 4
History of US Book 4
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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 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
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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
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History of US Book 8
History of US Book 8
by Joy Hakim
3rd edition from Oxford University
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History of US Book 9
History of US Book 9
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
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In the Land of the Head-Hunters
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Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
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Indian Chiefs
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Indian How Book
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Jamestown and the Founding of the Nation
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John Paul Jones
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Jonathan and Sarah
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Journal of a Trapper
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Keeping Score
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Labor's Untold Story
by Herbert M. Morais, Richard O. Boyer
3rd edition from United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of Amer
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Lee's New School History of the United States
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Letter Writer
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Life of General Stonewall Jackson
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Lincoln: A Photobiography
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1988 Newbery Medal winner
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List
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from Preston Speed
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Lives of the Presidents
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Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence
by Benson J. Lossing
3rd Printing from WallBuilder Press
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Making of American California
by Dorothy Dimmick
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Making of the Constitution
Jackdaw No. A8
by Elizabeth Bidwell Bates
Unb from Jackdaw Publications
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March (Book One)
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Robert F. Kennedy Book Award Winner, Coretta Scott King Honor Book
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Robert F. Kennedy Book Award Winner, Coretta Scott King Honor Book
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March - Boxed Set
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Robert F. Kennedy Book Award Winner, Coretta Scott King Honor Book
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Marriage to a Difficult Man
by Elisabeth D. Dodds
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Mayflower
by Nathaniel Philbrick
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Men-of-War
by Patrick O'Brian
1st Us Edition from W. W. Norton and Co.
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Midshipman Bolitho
by Alexander Kent
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Mountain Men and Fur Traders of the Far West
by LeRoy R. Hafen & Harvey L. Carter
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Biography for 9th-Adult
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Narrative of the Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee
by David Crockett
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
by Frederick Douglass, edited and introduction by David W. Blight
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
New World In View
To Pledge Allegiance #1
by Gary DeMar & Fred Douglas Young
from American Vision Press
American History Reference for 8th-10th grade
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$15.00 (4 in stock)
New York to Nome
by Rick Steber, Photography by Sheldon Taylor
2007 Revised from Bonanza Publishing
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North American Indian Burial Customs
by Dr. H. C. Yarrow
First Edition from Eagle's View Publishing
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Ojibway Indians - Coloring Book
by Chet Kozlak
from Minnesota Historical Society Press
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On the Road to Independence
To Pledge Allegiance #3
by Gary DeMar & George Grant
from American Vision Press
American History Reference for 9th-12th grade
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$15.00 (3 in stock)
Outbreak of the First World War
Studies in European History
by David Stevenson
from Palgrave MacMillan
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Outrageous Women of the American Frontier
Outrageous Women
1st edition from Jossey-Bass
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
People's War
Pictures From the Past
by Juliet Gardiner
from Select Editions
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Pictorial History of the Civil War Years
by Paul M. Angle
from Main Street Books
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Pony Express
by C. W. Guthrie
from Two Dot Books
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Prairie Traveler
by Randolph Barnes Marcy
from Applewood Books
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in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Presidential Anecdotes
by Paul F. Boller Jr.
14th edition from Penguin Putnam
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$6.50 (2 in stock)
Presidents
by Jerry Aten
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Railroad
Inventions That Shaped the World
by John Matthews
from Franklin Watts
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$6.50 (1 in stock)
Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail
by Theodore Roosevelt
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 9th-Adult
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$18.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Reformation to Colonization
To Pledge Allegiance #2
by Gary DeMar, Fred Douglas Young & Gary L. Todd
from American Vision Press
World History Reference for 8th-11th grade
in To Pledge Allegiance (Location: HISCUR-US)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Revenge of the Whale
by Nathaniel Philbrick
from Scholastic Inc.
for 6th-10th grade
in 19th Century America (Location: HISA-19C)
$3.00 (2 in stock)
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