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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Abe Lincoln Grows Up
by Carl Sandburg
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Abraham Lincoln
Heroes of History
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Abraham Lincoln
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Across America on an Emigrant Train
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Almost Home
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Amazing Impossible Erie Canal
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America's Paul Revere
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America's War Heroes
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American History in Verse
by Burton Stevenson
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Anpao
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Avion My Uncle Flew
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Baseball Saved Us
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Black Heroes of the American Revolution
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Blackthorn Winter
Monroe Family Chronicles #1
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Blood on the River: James Town, 1607
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Boris
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Boy in the Alamo
by Margaret Cousins
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Boys' War
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Brady
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Brother's Keeper
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Bud, Not Buddy
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Buffalo Bill
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By the Shores of Silver Lake
Little House Series #5
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Captain's Dog
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Captive Treasure
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Carolina's Courage
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Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
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Chasing Space for Young Readers
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Child's First Book of American History
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Children of the Longhouse
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Christopher Columbus
Sowers Series
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Civil War Days
American Kids in History
by David C. King
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Civil War for Kids
by Janis Herbert
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Clara Barton
Heroes of History
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Clearing Weather
by Cornelia Meigs
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America at War Series
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Columbus Discovers America - Coloring Book
by Peter F. Copeland
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Come On, Seabiscuit!
by Ralph Moody
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Coming Evil
by Vivian Vande Velde
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Coolies
by Yin, illustrated by Chris Soentpiet
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Copper-Toed Boots
by Marguerite de Angeli
from Wayne State University
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Courage to Run
Daughters of the Faith
by Wendy G. Lawton
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Curious World of Calpurnia Tate
by Jacqueline Kelly
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2010 Newbery Honor
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Daily Life in a Covered Wagon
by Paul Erickson
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Daniel Boone
by Daniel Boone
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Daniel Boone
Heroes of History
by Geoff & Janet Benge
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Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural
by Patricia C. McKissack, illustrated by Brian Pinkney
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1993 Newbery Honor Book
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Davy Crockett
by David Crockett
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Davy Crockett
Heroes of History
by Geoff & Janet Benge
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Day the World Stopped Turning
by Michael Morpurgo
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Diary of an Early American Boy
by Eric Sloane
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American History Reference for 4th-8th grade
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Did You Invent The Phone All Alone, Alexander Graham Bell?
by Gilda Berger, Melvin Berger
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Dietrich Bonhoeffer
by Geoff Benge, Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
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Discovery of the Americas
by Betsy & Giulio Maestro
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Don't You Know There's a War On?
by Avi
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Douglas MacArthur
Heroes of History
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from Emerald Books
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Down the Big River
Purple House Living History Library
by Stephen W. Meader, illustrated by Edward Shenton
from Purple House Press
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$10.99
Draw 50 Boats, Ships, Trucks, and Trains
by Lee Ames
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Early Thunder
by Jean Fritz
from Puffin Books
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$6.99
Echo Mountain
by Lauren Wolk
from Dutton Children's Books
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$8.99
Echoes of the White Giraffe
by Sook Nyul Choi
Reprint from HMH Books for Young Readers
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Elephant in the Garden
by Michael Morpurgo
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Elephant Run
by Roland Smith
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Elijah Of Buxton
by Christopher Paul Curtis
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2008 Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner, 2008 Newbery Honor Book
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Encounter
by Jane Yolen
1st edition from Voyager Paperbacks
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$8.99
Enemy Brothers
Bethlehem Books Living History Library
by Constance Savery
from Bethlehem Books
Historical fiction for 5th-8th grade
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$15.95
Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
by Jacqueline Kelly
Reprint from Square Fish Publishing
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2010 Newbery Honor
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$8.99
Exiled to the Red River
Trailblazer Books
by Dave and Neta Jackson
from Castle Rock Creative
for 3rd-7th grade
in Trailblazer Books (Location: SER-TRAIL)
$8.99
Explorers News
The History News
by Michael Johnstone
from Candlewick Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$6.99 $4.50 (4 in stock)
Faith Unfurled
from History Compass
for 4th-8th grade
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$7.95 $5.57 (1 in stock)
Farmer Boy
Little House Series #3
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.99
Farmer Boy
Little House Series #3
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.99
Father's Promise
by Donna Hess
from Bob Jones University Press
Historical fiction for 5th-8th grade
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$8.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Fear in the Forest
by Cateau de Leeuw
from Bethlehem Books
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$14.95
Feathers
by Jacqueline Woodson
Reprint from Puffin Books
for 4th-7th grade
2008 Newbery Honor Book
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$8.99
Fever 1793
by Laurie Halse Anderson
from Simon and Schuster
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$8.99
Fiddler's Green
from Rabbit Room Press
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.99
Finding Providence
An I Can Read Chapter Book
by Avi
from HarperCollins
for 3rd-5th grade
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$4.99
First Farm in the Valley
by Anne Pellowski
from Bethlehem Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$9.50
First Four Years
Little House Series #9
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.99
Forty-Acre Swindle
TrailBlazer Books
by Dave & Neta Jackson
from Castle Rock Creative
for 3rd-7th grade
in Trailblazer Books (Location: SER-TRAIL)
$8.99
Francis Asbury
by Geoff Benge, Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
Biographies for 4th-7th grade
in Christian Heroes: Then and Now (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Francis Scott Key
Sowers Series
by David Collins
from Mott Media
for 5th-7th grade
in Sowers Biographies (Location: BIO-SOW)
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Frederick Douglass: The Right to Dignity
from Emerald Books
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$11.99
Freedom Walkers
by Russell Freedman
from Holiday House
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2007 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
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$14.99
Freedom's Pen
Daughters of the Faith
by Wendy G. Lawton
New Edition from Moody Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Daughters of the Faith (Location: SER-DAU)
$7.99
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