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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1,001 Things Everyone Should Know About American History
by John A. Garraty
1st edition from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 9th-Adult
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
13 Colonies: Georgia
by Roberta Wiener and James R. Arnold
from Raintree
for 6th-8th grade
in Colonial America (1690-1765) (Location: HISA-17COL)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving
by Catherine O'Neill Grace
from National Geographic
for 4th-6th grade
in Pilgrims at Plymouth (Location: HISA-17PIL)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
1776
by David McCullough
from Simon and Schuster
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$14.00 $8.00 (1 in stock)
1776
by David McCullough
1st edition from Simon and Schuster
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
1846 - Portrait of the Nation
by Smithsonian Institute
from Smithsonian Books
in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
$12.00 (2 in stock)
1861: The Civil War Awakening
by Adam Goodheart
from Vintage Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
20th Century Wars
by Robert W. Smith
for 5th-12th grade
in 20th Century America (Location: HISA-20)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
500 Nations
by Alvin M. Josephy, Jr.
1st edition from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
$28.00 (1 in stock)
55 Men: The Story of the Constitution
from Noontide Press
in New Nation (1783-1800) (Location: HISA-18NN)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
A is for Abigail
by Lynne Cheney
1st edition from Simon and Schuster
for Kindergarten-4th grade
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$19.99 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Abe Lincoln
Landmark Series
by Sterling North
from Random House
Biography for 5th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance
by Frances Cavanah
from Rand McNally
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Abe Lincoln Grows Up
by Carl Sandburg
from Graphia
Biography for 5th-8th grade
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Abe Lincoln Grows Up
by Carl Sandburg, illustrated by James Daugherty
from Harcourt, Brace & Company
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Abraham Lincoln
A Rookie Biography
by Carol Greene
from Children's Press
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Abraham Lincoln: The Man & His Faith
by G. Frederick Owen
from Tyndale House
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Acadia National Park
Road Trip: National Parks
by Kathleen Connors
from Gareth Stevens Publishing
for 1st-3rd grade
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Across America
by Jacqueline Morley
from Franklin Watts
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in Lewis & Clark (Location: HISA-19L&C)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Across Five Aprils
by Irene Hunt
from Berkley Books
Historical Fiction for 6th-9th grade
1965 Newbery Honor Book
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$8.99 $3.00 (1 in stock)
Admiral of the Ocean Sea
by Samuel E. Morison
from Atlantic Monthly Press
for 9th-Adult
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Adventures of Buffalo Bill
by Col. William F. Cody
from Harper & Brothers
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Adventures of Captain Bonneville
by Washington Irving, illustrated by Robert Reynolds
Klickitat from Binford & Mort Publishing
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Davy Crockett
by David Crockett, illustrated by John W. Thomason
from Charles Scribner's Sons
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$18.00 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Munford: Munford Meets Lewis & Clark
by Jamie Aramini
from Geography Matters
for 2nd-4th grade
in Lewis & Clark (Location: HISA-19L&C)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Adventures with the Santa Fe Trail
by Dave Webb, illustrated by Phillip R. Buntin
Revised from Kansas Heritage Center
for 3rd-6th grade
in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
After the Dancing Days
by Margaret I. Rostkowski
from HarperTrophy
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After the War
by Carol Matas
from Simon Pulse
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
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Age of Fighting Sail
by C. S. Forester
1st edition from Doubleday & Company
American Naval History for 8th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Air Forces of the World
by Sue Butterworth, editor
from Chartwell Books
for 9th-Adult
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$18.00 (1 in stock)
Air Raid - Pearl Harbor!
by Theodore Taylor
1st Gulliver Books pbk. ed from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 4th-6th grade
in WWII: Pacific Theater (Location: HISA-20WW2P)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Airplanes of the Second World War - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Carlo Demand
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
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Akavak
by James Houston
from Harcourt, Brace & World
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Alamo!
by George Sullivan
from Scholastic Inc.
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Album of Memories
by Tom Brokaw
from Random House
for 9th-Adult
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$6.50 (1 in stock)
Album of the Civil War
by William Loren Katz
from Franklin Watts
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$4.50 (1 in stock)
Alexander Hamilton
by Ron Chernow
from Penguin Random House
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$10.00 (2 in stock)
Algonquin
by Natalie M. Rosinsky
from Compass Point Books
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Native Americans (Location: HISA-19NAT)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Almost Home
Daughters of the Faith
by Wendy G. Lawton
from Moody Press
Historical Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
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$7.99 $5.00 (4 in stock)
Alvin Ailey
by Andrea Davis Pinkney; illustrated by Brian Pinkney
from Hyperion Books for Children
for Preschool-3rd grade
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$4.50 (1 in stock)
Amazing Mr. Doolittle
by Quentin Reynolds
from Appleton-Century-Crofts
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Amelia Earhart
Lives to Remember
by Burke Davis
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
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$14.00 (1 in stock)
America 1933
by Michael Golay
from Free Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
America and Its People
by Laureat Bernard,Ralph Brande, Don Sharkey
from W. H. Sadlier
for 9th-12th grade
in Vintage Readers & Textbooks (Location: VIN-READ)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
America At War: Korean War
by John Perritano
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Korean War (1950-1953) (Location: HISA-20KW)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
America First updated
by Lawton B. Evans, Updated & Revised by Rachel Lebowitz
from Charlotte Mason Plenary LLC
for 4th-6th grade
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
America from the Beginning - Student Manual
by Joshua Franklin, Debbie Lawrence
from Answers in Genesis
for 3rd-8th grade
in U.S. History Curriculum (Location: HISCUR-US)
$29.00 (1 in stock)
America Grows Up
A History for Peter #2
by Gerald W. Johnson
from Yesterday's Classics
for 4th-7th grade
in New Nation (1783-1800) (Location: HISA-18NN)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
America In Korean War
by KidCaps
from BookCaps
for 3rd-5th grade
in Korean War (1950-1953) (Location: HISA-20KW)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
America in the 1900s and 1910s
Decades of American History
by Jim Callan
from Facts On File
for 5th-8th grade
in 20th Century America (Location: HISA-20)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
America in the 1930s
Decades of American History
by Jim Callan
from Facts On File
for 5th-8th grade
in 20th Century America (Location: HISA-20)
$35.00 (1 in stock)
America in the 1970s
from Facts On File
for 5th-8th grade
in 20th Century America (Location: HISA-20)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
America in the 1990s
by George Ochoa
from Facts On File
for 5th-8th grade
in 20th Century America (Location: HISA-20)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
America in the Air War
by Edward Jablonski
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Aviation History (Location: HISV-AVIA)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
America in the Time of Abraham Lincoln
by Sally Senzell Isaacs
from Heinemann Library
for 1st-4th grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
America in the Time of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
by Sally Senzel Isaacs
from Heinemann-Raintree
for 2nd-5th grade
in World War II (1939-1945) (Location: HISA-20WW2)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
America in the Time of Lewis and Clark
by Sally Senzel Isaacs
from Heinemann-Raintree
for 2nd-5th grade
in 19th Century America (Location: HISA-19C)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
America is Born
A History for Peter #1
by Gerald W. Johnson (iilustrations by Leonard Everett Fisher)
from William Morrow & Company
for 4th-7th grade
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$45.00 (1 in stock)
America is....
by Louise W. Borden, illustrated by Stacey Schuett
from Margaret K. McElderry Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Landmarks & Symbols of the United States (Location: HISV-LANUS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
America Our Great Country
for Kindergarten
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
$22.00 (3 in stock)
America the Beautiful/ A Man of Destiny
by the editors of Country Beautiful Magazine
from Country Beautiful
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
America's Christian History
by Gary DeMar
2nd edition from American Vision Press
for 10th-Adult
in America's Christian Heritage (Location: HISA-CH)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
America's Ethan Allen
by Stewart H. Holbrook; illustrated by Lynd Ward
9th printing from Houghton Mifflin
Picture Book Biography for 4th-6th grade
1950 Caldecott Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
America's Fascinating Indian Heritage
by James A. Maxwell
from Reader's Digest
for 7th-10th grade
in Native Americans (Location: HISA-19NAT)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
America's God and Country
by William J. Federer
from Amerisearch
for 7th-12th grade
in America's Christian Heritage (Location: HISA-CH)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
America's Longest War
by George C. Herring
2nd edition from McGraw-Hill
for 11th-Adult
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
America's Lost Dream
by Tom Dooley
from Master Books
American History for 4th-6th grade
in America's Christian Heritage (Location: HISA-CH)
$12.79 $10.00 (2 in stock)
America's Providential History
by Mark Beliles & Stephen McDowell
from Providence Foundation
in America's Christian Heritage (Location: HISA-CH)
$8.00 (6 in stock)
America: A Patriotic Primer
by Lynne Cheney
from Simon and Schuster
for Preschool-2nd grade
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
America: A Patriotic Primer
by Lynne Cheney
from Scholastic Inc.
for Preschool-2nd grade
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
American Adventures Part 1
by Morrie Greenberg
from Brooke-Richards Press
for 4th-6th grade
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
$3.50 (5 in stock)
American Adventures Part 2
by Morrie Greenberg
from Brooke-Richards Press
for 4th-6th grade
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
American Children Through Their Books
by Sister Monica Kiefer
1970 printing from University of Pennsylvania Press
for Adult
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
American Civil War
by Robert K. Krick
from Osprey Publishing
for 9th-Adult
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$6.50 (1 in stock)
American Covenant
by Marshall Foster
from Mayflower Institute
for 9th-Adult
in America's Christian Heritage (Location: HISA-CH)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
American Dream
by Stephen K. McDowell & Mark Beliles
from Providence Foundation
for 10th-Adult
in Jamestown Colony (Location: HISA-17JA)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 1
from Dell Publishing
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 10
from Dell Publishing
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 12
from Dell Publishing
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 2
from Dell Publishing
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 4
from Dell Publishing
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 5
from Dell Publishing
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 6
from Dell Publishing
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 7
from Dell Publishing
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 8
from Dell Publishing
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 9
from Dell Publishing
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
American Heritage History of the American Revolution
by Bruce Lancaster
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
American Heritage History of the Indian Wars
by Robert M. Utley, Wilcomb E. Washburn
Revised from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 6th-Adult
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
American Heroes of the 20th Century
Landmark Giant #14
by Harold & Doris Faber
from Random House
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in Landmark Giants (Location: VIN-LAN)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
American Indian Dances
by John L. Squires & Robert E. McLean
from The Ronald Press Co.
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
American Indian in Words and Pictures
by Sydney Fletcher
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
American Indian Prayer Guide
by Danette Maloof, Dean Cozzens
from Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.
for 4th-7th grade
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$4.50 (3 in stock)
American Indian Tales and Legends
by Vladimir Hulpach, illustrated by Miloslav Troup
from Paul Hamlyn
for 4th-8th grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House
by Jon Meacham
from Random House
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
American Made: The Colonial Child of 1740
by Marcia Fann
from Great American Coloring Book, Inc.
for Preschool-2nd grade
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
American Moments
by Robert Burleigh, illustrated by Bruce Strachan
from Henry Holt and Company
for 1st-4th grade
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
American Nation
by John D. Hicks
from Riverside Press
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
American Passage
by Vincent J. Cannato
from Harper Perennial
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
American President
by Philip Kunhardt, Jr., Philip Kunhardt III, Peter Kunhardt
from Riverhead Books
for Adult
in American Presidency (Location: HISV-PRE)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
American Presidents & Presidential First Ladies Notebooking Pages
from Notebooking Pages
for 3rd-8th grade
in American Presidency (Location: HISV-PRE)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
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