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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221 Items found Print
Active Filters: 10th grade (Ages 15-16), Trade Paperback, In-Stock Books & Materials
1776
by David McCullough
from Simon and Schuster
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20th Century Wars
by Robert W. Smith
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Abraham Lincoln's World
by Genevieve Foster, expanded by Joanna Foster
from Beautiful Feet Books
Historical Non-fiction for 7th-10th grade
1945 Newbery Honor Book
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Abraham Lincoln: The Man & His Faith
by G. Frederick Owen
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Al Capone Does My Shirts
by Gennifer Choldenko
Reprint from Puffin Books
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2005 Newbery Honor Book
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America and Vietnam
by Albert Marrin
from Beautiful Feet Books
Historical Non-Fiction for 7th-10th grade
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America's Christian History
by Gary DeMar
2nd edition from American Vision Press
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American Civil War
by Robert K. Krick
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American Covenant
by Marshall Foster
from Mayflower Institute
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
American History in Verse
by Burton Stevenson
from Bob Jones University Press
Poetry for 3rd-Adult
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
$11.00
American Revolutionaries
by Milton Meltzer
from HarperCollins
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
American Waterways: Canal Days
by Jeanne Munn Bracken, ed.
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Amistad Slave Revolt and American Abolition
by Karen Zeinert
from Linnet Books
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And There Was Light
by Jacques Lusseyran
Third Edition from New World Library
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Anne Bradstreet
by Heidi L. Nichols
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Anne Bradstreet
Christian Renegades Series
by Doug Wilson
3rd edition from Canon Press
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Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary
by Ruud van der Rol & Rian Verhoeven
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Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary
by Ruud van der Rol & Rian Verhoeven
from Scholastic Inc.
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Atlas of the North American Indian
by Carl Waldman
1st edition from Facts On File
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Band of Brothers
by Stephen Ambrose, Foreword by Tom Hanks
25th anniversary from Simon and Schuster
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$18.99
Basic History of the United States - Complete Set with Teacher's Guide
by Clarence B. Carson
from American Textbook Committee
American History Reference for 9th-12th grade
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$104.55
Battle of Lexington
by Jonas Clark
from Nordskog Publishing
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Beginning of the Republic
A Basic History of the United States Volume 2
by Clarence B. Carson
from American Textbook Committee
American History Reference for 9th-Adult
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$17.00
Betty Before X
by Ilyasah Shabazz with Renee Watson
from Square Fish Publishing
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Bitter Woods: The Battle of the Bulge
by John S. D. Eisenhower
1st edition from Da Capo Press
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Black Odyssey
by Mary Cable
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Book Thief
by Markus Zusak
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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$14.99
Bridge to the Sun
by Gwen Terasaki
from Rock Creek Books
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Caine Mutiny
by Herman Wouk
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1952 Pulitzer Prize Winner
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Call to Conscience
by Martin Luther King, Jr., Edited by Clayborne Carson and Kris Shepard
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$16.00
Captain, My Captain
by Deborah Meroff
from Inheritance Publications
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Charis in the World of Wonders
by Marly Youmans
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$17.95
Churchill
by Paul Johnson
Reprint from Penguin Putnam
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Citizen Soldiers
by Stephen Ambrose
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$20.99
Civil War Songbook
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Civil War: A History
by Harry Hansen, Introduction by Richard S. Wheeler, Foreword by Gary Gallagher
from New American Library
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Civil War: A Narrative - 3 Volume Set
by Shelby Foote
1st Vintage Books Ed from Vintage Classics
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$88.00
Co. Aytch
by Sam Watkins
from Touchstone
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Code Name Verity
by Elizabeth Wein
from Hyperion/Madison Press
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$10.99
Colonial Experience
A Basic History of the United States Volume 1
by Clarence B. Carson
from American Textbook Committee
American History Reference for 9th-Adult
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$17.00
Colonial Period: 1607-1750
American History by Era Volume 2
by Brenda Stalcup (editor)
from Greenhaven Press
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$11.00 (1 in stock)
Colonial Triangular Trade: An Economy Based on Human Misery
by Phyllis Raybin Emert, ed.
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Cornelius Ryan World War II Trilogy
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Debunking Howard Zinn
by Mary Grabar
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Devil in Massachusetts
by Marion L. Starkey
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Diary of a Young Girl
by Anne Frank
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Discoverers
by Daniel J. Boorstin
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$22.00
Drive Thru History America with Dave Stotts: Foundations of Character - Book Only
by David Barton
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Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men
by Jeffrey Rogers Hummel
1st edition from Open Court Publishing
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Evidence Not Seen
by Darlene Deibler Rose
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Eyewitnesses at the Battle of Franklin
by David R. Logsdon
4th edition
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
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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$7.50 (1 in stock)
Faithful Spy
by John Hendrix
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Farewell to Manzanar
by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
from Houghton Mifflin
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$10.99
Fiddler's Gun
by A. S. Peterson
1st edition from Rabbit Room Press
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$16.99
First Voyage to America
by Christopher Columbus
from Dover Publications
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Forever Free
by Eric Foner, illustrations edited with commentary by Joshua Brown
from Vintage Classics
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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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Four Voyages
by Christopher Columbus
from Penguin Classics
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$17.00
Free Indeed
by Mark Sidwell
Expanded from Bob Jones University Press
Biography for 6th-12th grade
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
From Sea to Shining Sea
by Peter Marshall & David Manuel
from Revell Publishing
American History Reference for 9th-Adult
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George Washington & the Founding of a Nation
by Albert Marrin
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George Washington's World
by Genevieve Foster, expanded by Joanna Foster and edited by Rea Berg
from Beautiful Feet Books
History Reference/Biography for 7th-10th grade
1942 Newbery Honor Book
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$21.95
George Whitefield
by Arnold A. Dallimore
from Crossway Books
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Girl in the Picture
by Denise Chong
from Charles Scribner's Sons
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God and Ronald Reagan
by Paul Kengor
Reprint from Harper Perennial
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God's Samurai
by Gordon Prange, with Donald Goldstein & Katherine Dillon
from Potomoc Books
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$21.95
Grand Canyon and the Southwest
by Ansel Adams
1st edition from Little, Brown & Company
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Great Battles of the Civil War
from John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Great Crash: 1929
by John Kenneth Galbraith
from Mariner Books
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Great Escape
by Paul Brickhill
Reissue from W. W. Norton and Co.
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$16.95
Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Reissue from Charles Scribner's Sons
Realistic Fiction for 9th-12th grade
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$17.00
Growth of America
A Basic History of the United States Volume 4
by Clarence B. Carson
from American Textbook Committee
American History Reference for 9th-Adult
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$19.00
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
by Mary Ann Shaffer
from Sun Dial Press
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$17.00
Guide to America's Greatest Historic Places
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Guns of August
by Barbara W. Tuchman
from Ballantine Books
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$8.99
Helen Keller: The Story of My Life
by Helen Keller
from Dover Publications
Autobiography for 7th-10th grade
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$1.50 (4 in stock)
Hero Tales
by Theodore Roosevelt & Henry Cabot Lodge
from Cumberland House
Biography for 7th-10th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Heyday
by Ben Wilson
from Weidenfeld & Nicolson
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Hiding Place
by Corrie Ten Boom
35th Anniversary Edition from Chosen Books
Biography for 6th-10th grade
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$15.99
Hitch
by Jeanette Ingold
from Harcourt
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Hitler
by Albert Marrin
from Beautiful Feet Books
Biography for 7th-10th grade
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$13.95
If The South Had Won The Civil War
by MacKinlay Kantor
from Forge
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$15.99
In the Land of the Head-Hunters
Reprint from World Book
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Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
by Harriet Jacobs
from Dover Publications
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Indian Chiefs
by Russell Freedman
from Scholastic Inc.
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$6.50 (1 in stock)
Invisible Man
by Ralph Ellison
2nd edition from Vintage Classics
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$16.00
Invisible Man
by Ralph Ellison
from Quality Paperback Book Club
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Jamestown and the Founding of the Nation
by Warren M. Billings
from Thomas Publications
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Jonathan and Sarah
by Edna Gerstner
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Biography for 9th-Adult
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Jonathan Edwards
by Stephen J. Nichols
from P&R Publishing
Biography for 9th-Adult
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$16.99
Journal of a Trapper
by Osborne Russell, edited by Aubrey L. Haines
from Bison Books
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Journey and Ordeal of Cabeza de Vaca
Dover editions
by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca
from Dover Publications
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$10.95
Journey Through the Night
by Anne De Vries
from Inheritance Publications
Historical fiction for 8th-10th grade
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$29.95
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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$5.00 (2 in stock)
Laddie
by Gene Stratton-Porter
from Indiana University Press
Romance for 7th-10th grade
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$16.95
Land of Hope
by Wilfred M. McClay
from Encounter Books
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$49.99
Last Battle
by Cornelius Ryan
Reprint from Simon and Schuster
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$20.00
Last Bookshop in London
by Madeline Martin
from Hanover Square Press
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$16.99
Last of the Mohicans
Leatherstocking Tales #2
by James Fenimore Cooper
Reprint from Penguin Classics
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$13.00
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