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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1776
by David McCullough
from Simon and Schuster
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
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1861: The Civil War Awakening
by Adam Goodheart
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20th Century Wars
by Robert W. Smith
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Abe Lincoln Grows Up
by Carl Sandburg
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Abraham Lincoln: The Man & His Faith
by G. Frederick Owen
from Tyndale House
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Adventures of Munford: Munford Meets Lewis & Clark
by Jamie Aramini
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Air Raid - Pearl Harbor!
by Theodore Taylor
1st Gulliver Books pbk. ed from HMH Books for Young Readers
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Alexander Hamilton
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Almost Home
Daughters of the Faith
by Wendy G. Lawton
from Moody Press
Historical Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
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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
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$29.00 (1 in stock)
America in the Time of Abraham Lincoln
by Sally Senzell Isaacs
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America's Christian History
by Gary DeMar
2nd edition from American Vision Press
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America's Longest War
by George C. Herring
2nd edition from McGraw-Hill
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America's Providential History
by Mark Beliles & Stephen McDowell
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American Civil War
by Robert K. Krick
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American Covenant
by Marshall Foster
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
American Passage
by Vincent J. Cannato
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
American Revolution
America at War Series
by Alden Carter
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Historical Non-fiction for 4th-6th grade
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American Revolutionaries
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American Waterways: Canal Days
by Jeanne Munn Bracken, ed.
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Americanization of Benjamin Franklin
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Amistad Slave Revolt and American Abolition
by Karen Zeinert
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Amistad: A Long Road to Freedom
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Ancient Maya
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Angel Child, Dragon Child
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Anne Bradstreet
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Biography for 10th-Adult
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Anne Frank's Story
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Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary
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Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary
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Around the World in a Hundred Years
by Jean Fritz
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Biography for 2nd-5th grade
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Atlas of North American Exploration
by Glyndwr Williams, William H. Goetzmann
Oklahoma Paperbacks Ed from University of Oklahoma Press
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Atlas of the North American Indian
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1st edition from Facts On File
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Aztecs
Journey Into Civilization
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Bat 6
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Behind Enemy Lines
Sterling Point Books
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Behind the Bedroom Wall
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Behind the Blue and Gray
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Behind the Blue and Gray
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Bentwood Box
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Best Little Stories from World War II
by C. Brian Kelly
1996 Printing from Montpelier Publishing
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Big Annie of Calumet
by Jerry Stanley
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Biography of James A. Garfield
Sons of Liberty Series
by William Thayer
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Birchbark House
by Louise Erdrich
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Historical Fiction for 4th-6th grade
National Book Award Finalist
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Birchbark House
by Louise Erdrich
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Bite of the Gold Bug
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Bitter Woods: The Battle of the Bulge
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Black & Tan
by Doug Wilson
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Black Heroes of the American Revolution
by Burke Davis
1992 Odyssey Classics edition from Clarion Books
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Black Odyssey
by Mary Cable
from Penguin Classics
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Blackthorn Winter
Monroe Family Chronicles #1
by Doug Wilson
from Veritas Press
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Bold Journey
by Charles Bohner
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Book About Christopher Columbus
by Ruth Belov Gross, Illustrated by Syd Hoff
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Boston Jane
by Jennifer L. Holm
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Boy in the Alamo
by Margaret Cousins
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Boy's War
by David Michell
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Boys and Girls of Colonial Days
by Carolyn Bailey
2nd edition from Christian Liberty Press
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Boys' War
by Jim Murphy
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Historical Non-fiction for 5th-8th grade
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Bridge to the Sun
by Gwen Terasaki
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Bud, Not Buddy
by Christopher Paul Curtis
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2000 Newbery Medal winner
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Buffalo Bill
by Helen Cody Wetmore
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 6th-9th grade
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Buffalo Bill and the Wild West
by Henry Blackman Sell and Victor Weybright
Reprint from International Cody Family Assoc.
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$15.00 (1 in stock)
Bull Run
by Paul Fleischman, David Frampton (Woodcuts)
2nd edition from Scholastic Inc.
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Carolina's Courage
by Elizabeth Yates
from Bob Jones University Press
Historical Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
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Children of Mount Vernon
by Miriam Anne Bourne, illustrated by Gloria Kamen
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Children of the Earth and Sky
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Children of the Wild West
by Russell Freedman
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$5.00 (3 in stock)
Children's Color Book of Jamestown in Virginia
by Priscilla Hunt
from The Dietz Pres, Inc.
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Children's Stories
Tales of the Wild West Volume 6
by Rick Steber
from Bonanza Publishing
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$2.50 (3 in stock)
Christianity and the Constitution
by John Eidsmoe
from Baker Academics
for Adult
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$25.00 $15.00 (1 in stock)
Christopher Columbus
Sowers Series
by Bennie Rhodes
from Mott Media
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Churchill: Walking with Destiny
by Andrew Roberts
from Penguin Books
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War
by Janet Cassidy
from Scholastic Inc.
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Civil War
by Pat Wesolowski
from Unknown Publisher
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Civil War Artist
by Taylor Morrison
from HMH Books for Young Readers
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War Days
American Kids in History
by David C. King
1st edition from John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
for 3rd-6th Grade
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Civil War Handbook - Confederate Captain
by Robin Robinson
from Silverleaf Press
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Civil War Handbook - Union Lieutenant
by Robin Robinson
from Silverleaf Press
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Civil War Heroines
by Jill Canon
from Bellerophon Books
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$2.50 (1 in stock)
Civil War Songbook
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War: A History
by Harry Hansen, Introduction by Richard S. Wheeler, Foreword by Gary Gallagher
from New American Library
for 10th-Adult
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Claudette Colvin
by Philip Hoose
from Square Fish Publishing
for 6th-9th grade
2010 Newbery Honor Book, 2010 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book, National Book Award
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
Colonial America
by Donald M. Silver, Patricia J. Wynne
from Scholastic Inc.
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Colonial America
for 4th-6th grade
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Colonial Kids
by Laurie Carlson
1st edition from Chicago Review Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Colonial America (1690-1765) (Location: HISA-17COL)
$9.00 (2 in stock)
Colonial Period: 1607-1750
American History by Era Volume 2
by Brenda Stalcup (editor)
from Greenhaven Press
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$11.00 (1 in stock)
Colonial Times 1600-1700
by Joy Masoff
from Scholastic Inc.
for 2nd-5th grade
in Colonial America (1690-1765) (Location: HISA-17COL)
$2.00 (2 in stock)
Colonial Town: Williamsburg
by Bobbie Kalman
Revised from Crabtree Publishing
for 1st-8th grade
in Colonial America (1690-1765) (Location: HISA-17COL)
$4.50 (2 in stock)
Colonial Triangular Trade: An Economy Based on Human Misery
by Phyllis Raybin Emert, ed.
from History Compass
for 7th-12th grade
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$5.50 (1 in stock)
Columbus Discovers America - Coloring Book
by Peter F. Copeland
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
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$4.99 $3.00 (2 in stock)
Come On, Seabiscuit!
by Ralph Moody
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 5th-9th grade
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$14.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Coming On Home Soon
by Jacqueline Woodson
1st edition from Scholastic Inc.
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$2.50 (1 in stock)
Coming to America
by Betsy Maestro
from Scholastic Inc.
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$2.50 (1 in stock)
Cowboys
Tales of the Wild West Volume 4
by Rick Steber
from Bonanza Publishing
for 4th-7th grade
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$2.50 (1 in stock)
Cowboys of the Wild West
by Russell Freedman
from Sandpiper Books
Non-fiction for 4th-8th grade
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Cowboys of the Wild West
by Russell Freedman
from Scholastic Inc.
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$4.50 (1 in stock)
Daniel Boone
by Daniel Boone
from Applewood Books
Biography for 4th-8th grade
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$14.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Daniel Boone
by Carol Greene
from Children's Press
for Preschool-3rd Grade
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Daniel's Story
by Carol Matas
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
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$3.50 (2 in stock)
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