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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1776
by David McCullough
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1861: The Civil War Awakening
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Abraham Lincoln: The Man & His Faith
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Alexander Hamilton
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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 Providential History
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American Covenant
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American Passage
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American Revolutionaries
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Americanization of Benjamin Franklin
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Anne Bradstreet
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Black & Tan
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Black Odyssey
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Buffalo Bill and the Wild West
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Christianity and the Constitution
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Churchill: Walking with Destiny
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Civil War Songbook
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Civil War: A History
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Colonial Period: 1607-1750
American History by Era Volume 2
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Defining Moment
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Devil in Massachusetts
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Diary of a Young Girl
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Earth is Weeping
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Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men
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Eyewitnesses at the Battle of Franklin
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FDR
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First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt
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Forever Free
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Fortune of War
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From Sea to Shining Sea
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Gettysburg: The Last Invasion
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Great Battles of the Civil War
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Great Bridge
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Guide to America's Greatest Historic Places
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Heyday
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Honor in the Dust
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How Would a Patriot Act?
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Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
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Invisible Man
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Island at the Center of the World
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Jamestown and the Founding of the Nation
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Jonathan and Sarah
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Journal of a Trapper
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Labor's Untold Story
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Lee's New School History of the United States
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Lies My Teacher Told Me
by James W. Loewen
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Lies My Teacher Told Me
by James W. Loewen
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Life and Diary of David Brainerd
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Long Valley
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Marriage to a Difficult Man
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Maus I: My Father Bleeds History
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Mayflower
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Midshipman Bolitho
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Monuments Men
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Mountain Men and Fur Traders of the Far West
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Narrative of the Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
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New York to Nome
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Night
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No Less Than Victory
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North American Indian Burial Customs
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Omar Bradley: General at War
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On the Edge
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One Nation Under God
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Outbreak of the First World War
Studies in European History
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Paris 1919
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Patriot's History Reader
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Pioneer Children on the Journey West
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Prairie Traveler
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Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail
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Red River to Appomattox
The Civil War: A Narrative, Vol. 3
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Revolution & Regeneration
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Revolutionary Period: 1750-1783
American History by Era Volume 3
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Rewriting of America's History
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Righteous Cause
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River and the Gauntlet
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Rough Riders
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Runaway Slaves
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Sailor's Story
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Seven Wonders of the World
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Shiloh: A Novel
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Smithsonian Guide to Historic America - 12 volume set
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Smoke and Ashes
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Songs of My People
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Soul of the Lion
by Willard M. Wallace
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South in Modern America
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Spiritual Heritage
by David Barton
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Story of Liberty
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Such Troops as These
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