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's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and 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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109 Items found Print
Active Filters: Biographies, 10th grade (Ages 15-16), Used Books & Materials
Abraham Lincoln: The Man & His Faith
by G. Frederick Owen
from Tyndale House
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Admiral of the Ocean Sea
by Samuel E. Morison
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Adventures of Davy Crockett
by David Crockett, illustrated by John W. Thomason
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Amazing Mr. Doolittle
by Quentin Reynolds
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Anne Bradstreet
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Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary
by Ruud van der Rol & Rian Verhoeven
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Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
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B. Franklin, Printer
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Battle from the Start
by Brian Steel Wills
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Beyond Stateliest Marble
Leaders in Action Series
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Call of Duty
Leaders in Action Series
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Captain Edward L. Beach: Around the World Under Water
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Cheer the Lonesome Traveller
by Leslie Alexander Lacy, illustrated by James Barkley
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Christopher Columbus and His Legacy
Opposing Viewpoints Series
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Comes the Comrade!
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Complete Maus
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Defeating the Totalitarian Lie
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Devil at My Heels
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Diary of a Young Girl
by Anne Frank
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Early Days of a Cowboy on the Pecos
by James F. Hinkle
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Escape from Corregidor
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Eyewitnesses at the Battle of Franklin
by David R. Logsdon
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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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Forgotten Founding Father
Leaders in Action Series
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Free Indeed
by Mark Sidwell
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George Washington & the Founding of a Nation
by Albert Marrin
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George Washington's World (pictorial hardcover)
by Genevieve Foster
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George Washington: Man and Monument
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George Washington: Soldier and Man
by North Callahan
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George Whitefield: Wayfaring Witness
by Stuart C. Henry
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Give Me Liberty
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God and Ronald Reagan
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Great Adventures That Changed Our World
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Harriet Beecher Stowe
by Suzanne M. Coil
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Helen Keller: The Story of My Life
by Helen Keller
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In My Father's House
by Corrie Ten Boom
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In the Arena: A Memoir of Victory, Defeat and Renewal
by Richard Nixon
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Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
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Inventing America: The Life of Benjamin Franklin
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Invisible Man
by Ralph Ellison
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Ishi: Last of His Tribe
by Theodora Kroeber
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James Fenimore Cooper
by Donald A. Ringe
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John Brown Russwurm
by Mary Sagarin, Introduction by Ernest Kaiser
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John Deere Story
by Neil Dahlstrom and Jeremy Dahlstrom, introduction by David Vaught
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John James Audubon: Painting America's Wildlife
by Janet Stevenson, illustrated by Robert Boehmer
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Jonathan and Sarah
by Edna Gerstner
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Journals of Lewis & Clark
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Kinderlager
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Lady of Arlington
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Lewis and Clark Expedition - 3-volume Set
by Meriwether Lewis
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Life & Times of Washington
by Mario Rivoire, translated by C.J. Richards
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Life and Diary of David Brainerd
by David Brainerd
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Life and Letters of Benjamin Franklin
by Benjamin Franklin
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Life of General Stonewall Jackson
by Mary Williamson
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Life of George Washington
by Mary Williamson
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Lives of the Presidents
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Livingstone and his African Journeys
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Lonely but Not Alone
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M. C. Higgins, the Great
by Virginia Hamilton
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1975 Newbery Medal winner
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Magellan
by Michael Burgan
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Making of George Washington
by William H. Wilbur
2nd edition from Unknown Publisher
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Maria
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Marriage to a Difficult Man
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Mathew Brady
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Maus I: My Father Bleeds History
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Mein Kampf OSI
by Adolf Hitler, translated by Ralph Manheim
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Memorial Volume of Jefferson Davis
by J. William Jones
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Mountain Men and Fur Traders of the Far West
by LeRoy R. Hafen & Harvey L. Carter
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Narrative of the Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee
by David Crockett
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Copper Lodge Library
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave
by Frederick Douglass
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Never Dies the Dream
by Margaret Landon
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New York to Nome
by Rick Steber, Photography by Sheldon Taylor
2007 Revised from Bonanza Publishing
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Night
by Elie Wiesel
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Oregon Trail
by Francis Parkman, Jr., illustrated by Maynard Dixon
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Presidency of George Washington
by Jack D. Warren, Jr.
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Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail
by Theodore Roosevelt
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Ranch under the Rimrock
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Revolt in the Desert
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Sailor's Story
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Salvaged Pages: Young Writers' Diaries of the Holocaust
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Sam Houston
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Samuel De Champlain
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Sequoyah and the Cherokee Alphabet
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Smiling Rebel
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Soul of the Lion
by Willard M. Wallace
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Survival in Auschwitz
by Primo Levi
1st edition from Touchstone
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They Had a Dream
by Jules Archer
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To Be a Slave
Puffin Modern Classics
by Julius Lester, illustrated by Tom Feelings
from Puffin Books
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1969 Newbery Honor Book
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To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
from Warner Books
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Truth About Sacajawea
by Kenneth Thomasma
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Twelve Seconds to the Moon
by Rosamond Young & Catharine Fitzgerald
2nd edition from Air Force Museum Foundation, Inc.
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Twelve Years a Slave
by Solomon Northup
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Twilight Struggle
by Barbara Harrison, Daniel Terris
1st edition from HarperCollins
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Uncle Tom's Cabin
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by Harriet Beecher Stowe
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Up From Slavery
Dover Thrift Editions
by Booker T. Washington
from Dover Publications
Autobiography for 10th-Adult
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Up From Slavery
Good and the Beautiful Library Level 10
by Booker T. Washington, with grammar and spelling updated by Jenny Phillips
from The Good and the Beautiful
Autobiography for 10th-Adult
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Up From Slavery
Copper Lodge Library
by Booker T. Washington, annotated by Stephanie B. Meter
from Classical Conversations
Autobiography for 9th-Adult
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Vast Horizons
by Mary Seymour Lucas, illustrated by C. B. Falls
from Viking Press
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$25.00 (1 in stock)
Virginia's General
by Albert Marrin
from Beautiful Feet Books
Biography for 7th-10th grade
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$15.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
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