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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155 Items found Print
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Adventures of Munford: Munford Meets Lewis & Clark
by Jamie Aramini
from Geography Matters
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Almost Home
Daughters of the Faith
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America from the Beginning - Student Manual
by Joshua Franklin, Debbie Lawrence
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America in the Time of Abraham Lincoln
by Sally Senzell Isaacs
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Angel Child, Dragon Child
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Anne Frank's Story
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Around the World in a Hundred Years
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Best Little Stories from World War II
by C. Brian Kelly
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Book About Christopher Columbus
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Carolina's Courage
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Children of Mount Vernon
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Children of the Earth and Sky
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Children's Color Book of Jamestown in Virginia
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Civil War Days
American Kids in History
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Civil War Handbook - Union Lieutenant
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Civil War Heroines
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Colonial America
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Colonial Times 1600-1700
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Colonial Town: Williamsburg
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Columbus Discovers America - Coloring Book
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Coming On Home Soon
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Coming to America
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Daniel Boone
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Douglas Macarthur: American Hero
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Eric the Red & Leif the Lucky
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Explorers News
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F is for Freedom
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Famous Figures of the American Revolution
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First Book of America
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Focus on Presidents
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For Home & Country
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Forty-Acre Swindle
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Glorious Flight
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Going West!
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Gold Cadillac
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Guests
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Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King
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Henry Ford
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Hiroshima
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Home Crafts (Historic Communities)
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House Divided
Young Founders 1863
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How Many Days to America?
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If You Grew Up With Abraham Lincoln
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by Ann McGovern
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If You Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King
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If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution
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If You Lived at the Time of the Civil War
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If You Lived At The Time Of The Great San Francisco Earthquake
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If You Lived in Colonial Times
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by Ann McGovern
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If You Lived in Williamsburg in Colonial Days
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by Barbara Brenner, Jenny Williams (Ilustrator)
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If You Lived With the Iroquois
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If You Lived With the Sioux Indians
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If You Sailed On the Mayflower in 1620
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If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon
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If You Were There When They Signed the Constitution
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If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island
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In 1492
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Incredible Grand Canyon
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Industrial Revolution
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Jamestown
Adventures in Colonial America
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Jazz Man
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Journey West on the Oregon Trail
by Cecile Alyce Nolan
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Just a Few Words, Mr. Lincoln
An All Aboard Reading Reader Level 4
by Jean Fritz
from Grosset & Dunlap
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Kirsten's Cook Book
American Girl
by Jodi Evert
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$2.40 (1 in stock)
Landmark History of the American People
by Daniel & Ruth Boorstin
from Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.
for 3rd-8th grade
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$12.00 (4 in stock)
Letters from Rifka
by Karen Hesse
from Square Fish Publishing
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Life of Washington
by Josephine Pollard
from Beautiful Feet Books
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Little House in the Big Woods
Little House Series #1
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
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Little House on Rocky Ridge
Rocky Ridge Years Book 1
by Roger Lea MacBride
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Marco Polo: Voyager to the Orient
by Carol Greene
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Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Man of Peace
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Mary Geddy's Day
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in Colonial America (1690-1765) (Location: HISA-17COL)
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Meet Samantha
American Girl
by Susan S. Adler
from American Girl
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Meet Thomas Jefferson
by Marvin Barrett
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More Than Moccasins
by Laurie Carlson
from Chicago Review Press
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Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg
by Rodman Philbrick
from Scholastic Press
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2010 Newbery Honor Book
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My Little House Crafts Book
by Carolyn Strom Collins & Christina Wyss Eriksson
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Mysterious Journey
by Martha Wickham
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Native Homes
by Bobbie Kalman
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Neeluk
by Frances Kittredge
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New England Soldiers of the American Revolution
by Marko Zlatich, Illustrations by Donna Neary
from Bellerophon Books
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Nobody Gonna Turn Me 'Round
by Doreen Rappaport
Reprint from Candlewick Press
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$6.50 (1 in stock)
Ojibway Indians - Coloring Book
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from Minnesota Historical Society Press
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
Old Ironsides
by David L. Weitzman
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On the Mayflower
by Kate Waters
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Our America... The Pilgrim Adventure
by Susan Kilbride
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Our Heritage of Freedom
by B Elane clegg, Darlene P Stoker
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Patchwork Quilt
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Paul Bunyan
by Steven Kellogg
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Phoebe the Spy
by Judith Berry Griffin
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Phoebe the Spy
by Judith Berry Griffin
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Picture Book of Lewis and Clark
by David A. Adler
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$4.50 (2 in stock)
Pioneer Days
American Kids in History
by David C. King
1st edition from John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
Pioneer Days
American Kids in History
by David C. King
from Scholastic Inc.
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in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Pizarro and the Incas
Stories From History
by Nicholas Saunders
from School Specialty Publishing
for 3rd-5th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Pledge of Allegiance
by Scholastic, Scholastic Inc.
Cmv from Scholastic Inc.
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
Pledge of Allegiance in Translation
by Elizabeth, Raum
from Capstone Press
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$4.00 (2 in stock)
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