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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13 Colonies: Georgia
by Roberta Wiener and James R. Arnold
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20th Century Wars
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Abe Lincoln
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Abe Lincoln Grows Up
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Abe Lincoln Grows Up
by Carl Sandburg, illustrated by James Daugherty
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Across Five Aprils
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After the Dancing Days
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After the War
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America from the Beginning - Student Manual
by Joshua Franklin, Debbie Lawrence
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America Grows Up
A History for Peter #2
by Gerald W. Johnson
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America in the 1900s and 1910s
Decades of American History
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America in the 1930s
Decades of American History
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America in the 1970s
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America is Born
A History for Peter #1
by Gerald W. Johnson (iilustrations by Leonard Everett Fisher)
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America's Fascinating Indian Heritage
by James A. Maxwell
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America's God and Country
by William J. Federer
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American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 1
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American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 10
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American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 12
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American Heritage History of the Indian Wars
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American Heroes of the 20th Century
Landmark Giant #14
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American Indian Prayer Guide
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American Indian Tales and Legends
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American Presidents & Presidential First Ladies Notebooking Pages
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American Revolution
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American Waterways: Canal Days
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Americans Before Columbus
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1952 Newbery Honor Book
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Amethyst Ring
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Amistad Slave Revolt and American Abolition
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Amistad: A Long Road to Freedom
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Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary
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Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
by Anne Frank, translated by B. M. Mooyaart-Doubleday with an introduction by Eleanor Roosevelt
Book Club Edition from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
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Apache Land
by Ross Santee
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Art of Keeping Cool
by Janet Taylor Lisle
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2001 Scott O'Dell Award
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Atlas of North American Exploration
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Oklahoma Paperbacks Ed from University of Oklahoma Press
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Aztec and Maya Myths
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Aztecs
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by Robert Nicholson and Claire Watts
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B. Franklin, Printer
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Battle of Salerno
Italy, September 1943-1945
by Irving Werstein, with maps by Ava Morgan
First Edition from Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.
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Battle of the Little Bighorn
by Mark Henckel
1st edition from Falcon Press Publishing
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Before Columbus
by Charles C. Mann
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Before Columbus
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Behind Enemy Lines
Sterling Point Books
by H.R. DeMallie
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Behind the Bedroom Wall
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Behind the Blue and Gray
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Ben Franklin of Old Philadelphia
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Betsy and Joe
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Big Annie of Calumet
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Big Annie of Calumet
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Big Book of the Civil War
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Billy Yank - Coloring Book
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Biography of James A. Garfield
Sons of Liberty Series
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Black Falcon
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Black Hawk, Sac Rebel
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Black Heroes of the American Revolution
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Black Man in America
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Bold Journey
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Bomb
by Steve Sheinkin
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2013 Newbery Honor Book, 2013 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner
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Bonanza Girl
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Boston
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Boston Jane
by Jennifer L. Holm
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Bound for America
Great Journeys
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Boy in the Alamo
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Boy's War
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Boys' War
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Historical Non-fiction for 5th-8th grade
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Boys' War
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Buffalo Bill
by Helen Cody Wetmore
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Biography for 6th-9th grade
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Bull Run
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Bull Run
by Paul Fleischman, David Frampton (Woodcuts)
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Bull Run
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Calico Bush
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1932 Newbery Honor Book
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Captain Edward L. Beach: Around the World Under Water
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Captive
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Hans Christian Anderson Award
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Cavalryman with Custer
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Character for Life
by Don Hawkinson
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Chariot in the Sky
Land of the Free Series
by Arna Bontemps, illustrated by Cyrus Le Roy Baldridge
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Charles A. Lindbergh
by James Cross Giblin
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1998 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
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Child Star
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Children of the Wild West
by Russell Freedman
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Children of the Wild West
by Russell Freedman
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Children's Stories
Tales of the Wild West Volume 6
by Rick Steber
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City! San Francisco
by George Ancona, Shirley Climo
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Civil War
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Civil War
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Civil War
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Civil War
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Civil War Battles
by Curt Johnson
1st edition from Crescent Books
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Claudette Colvin
by Philip Hoose
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2010 Newbery Honor Book, 2010 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book, National Book Award
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