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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200 Items found Print
Active Filters: Biographies, 8th grade (Ages 13-14), In-Stock Books & Materials
Abe Lincoln
Landmark Series
by Sterling North
from Random House
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Abe Lincoln Grows Up
by Carl Sandburg
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Abe Lincoln Grows Up
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Abraham Lincoln's World
by Genevieve Foster, expanded by Joanna Foster
from Beautiful Feet Books
Historical Non-fiction for 7th-10th grade
1945 Newbery Honor Book
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Al Capone Does My Shirts
by Gennifer Choldenko
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2005 Newbery Honor Book
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Amelia Earhart
Lives to Remember
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America's War Heroes
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American Heroes of the 20th Century
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American Presidents & Presidential First Ladies Notebooking Pages
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Amos Fortune, Free Man
by Elizabeth Yates, illustrated by Nora S. Unwin
from Puffin Books
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1951 Newbery Medal winner
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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
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B. Franklin, Printer
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Ben Franklin of Old Philadelphia
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Betty Before X
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Biography of James A. Garfield
Sons of Liberty Series
by William Thayer
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Black Hawk, Sac Rebel
from Chelsea House Publishing
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Black Heroes of the American Revolution
by Burke Davis
1992 Odyssey Classics edition from Clarion Books
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Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Freedom - Audio Drama (CD)
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Book of Discovery
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Boy's War
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Boys in the Boat adapted for Young Readers
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Buffalo Bill
by Helen Cody Wetmore
from University of Nebraska
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Bully for You, Teddy Roosevelt!
by Jean Fritz
from PaperStar Books
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Captain Edward L. Beach: Around the World Under Water
by Beril Becker
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Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
by Jean Lee Latham
from Houghton Mifflin
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1956 Newbery Medal winner
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Carver: A Life in Poems
by Marilyn Nelson
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2002 Newbery Honor Book, Coretta Scott King Honor Award
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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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Christopher Columbus
by Samuel Eliot Morison
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Claudette Colvin
by Philip Hoose
from Square Fish Publishing
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2010 Newbery Honor Book, 2010 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book, National Book Award
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Co. Aytch
by Sam Watkins
from Touchstone
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Cobblestone Magazine: Thomas Jefferson
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Colonial Governor
by J.G.E. Hopkins, illustrated by William Wilson
from P.J. Kenedy & Sons
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Combat Nurses of World War II
Landmark #116
by Wyatt Blassingame
from Purple House Press
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Come On, Seabiscuit!
by Ralph Moody
from University of Nebraska
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Daniel Boone
by Daniel Boone
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Davy Crockett
by David Crockett
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Defeating the Totalitarian Lie
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Diary of a Young Girl
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Dietrich Bonhoeffer
by Geoff Benge, Janet Benge
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Dime a Dozen
by Nikki Grimes, Illustrated by Angelo
from Dial Books for Young Readers
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Early Days of a Cowboy on the Pecos
by James F. Hinkle
from Unknown Publisher
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Emancipation Proclomation
by Tonya Bolden
from Abrams Books for Young Readers
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Escape from Corregidor
by Edward D. Whitcomb
from Regnery Publishing, Inc.
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Explorers & Discoverers - 4 Volume Set
from UXL Publishing
biographical encyclopedia for 5th-8th grade
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$30.00 (1 in stock)
Explorers Who Got Lost
by Diane Dreher
from Tor Classic
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Explorers Who Got Lost
by Diane Sansevere-Dreher, Illustrated by Ed Renfro
from Starscape
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Explorers, Missionaries, and Trappers
by Kieran Doherty
from Oliver-Nelson Books
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in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
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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Faithful Spy
by John Hendrix
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
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$18.99
For You They Signed
by Marilyn Boyer
from Master Books
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For You They Signed
by Marilyn Boyer
All-in-One Edition from Master Books
for 7th-9th grade
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$39.19
Free Indeed
by Mark Sidwell
Expanded from Bob Jones University Press
Biography for 6th-12th grade
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Freedom Train
by Dorothy Sterling
from Scholastic Inc.
Biography for 4th-8th grade
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$6.99
Freedom's Children
by Ellen Levine
from Penguin Putnam
Biography for 4th-8th grade
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George Washington
Sterling Point Books
by Sterling North
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Biography for 5th-9th grade
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George Washington & the Founding of a Nation
by Albert Marrin
from Dutton Juvenile
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George Washington Carver: Botanist
Black Americans of Achievement
by Gene Adair, introduction by Coretta Scott King
from Chelsea House Publishing
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
George Washington's World (pictorial hardcover)
by Genevieve Foster
from Charles Scribner's Sons
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$38.00 (1 in stock)
George Washington: Man and Monument
by Frank Freidel and Lonnelle Aikman
from Washington National Monument Assoc.
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
George Washington: Soldier and Man
by North Callahan
from William Morrow & Company
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Geronimo: Apache Freedom Fighter
Native American Biographies
by Spring Hermann
from Enslow
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Gladys Aylward: The Little Woman
by Gladys Aylward
from Moody Press
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Going Solo
by Roald Dahl
from Puffin Books
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Great Explorers
by Joyce Grosseck & Elizabeth Attwood
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Great Little Madison
by Jean Fritz
from PaperStar Books
Biography for 5th-8th grade
1990 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award
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Harriet Beecher Stowe
by Suzanne M. Coil
from Franklin Watts
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Harriet Beecher Stowe and the Beecher Preachers
by Jean Fritz
from PaperStar Books
Biography for 5th-8th grade
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$6.99
Harriet Tubman
Triangle Histories: The Civil War
by Lisa Halvorsen
from Blackbirch Press
for 4th-8th grade
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
Haym Salomon: Liberty's Son
by Shirley Milgrim, illustrated by Richard Fish
from Jewish Publication Society
for 4th-8th grade
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Heart Strangely Warmed
by Louise A. Vernon
from Herald Press
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Helen Keller: The Story of My Life
Signet Classics
by Helen Keller
Reprint from Signet Classics
Autobiography for 7th-10th grade
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$5.95
Helen Keller: The Story of My Life
by Helen Keller
from Dover Publications
Autobiography for 7th-10th grade
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$1.50 (4 in stock)
Hero Tales
by Theodore Roosevelt & Henry Cabot Lodge
from Cumberland House
Biography for 7th-10th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Hero Tales from American Life
by Francis Trevelyan Miller
1994 reprint from Mantle Ministries
for 6th-9th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Hidden
by Fanya Gottesfeld Heller with Joshua M. Greene
from Scholastic Inc.
for 5th-8th grade
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$2.50 (1 in stock)
Hiding Place
by Corrie Ten Boom
from Bantam Books
Biography for 6th-10th grade
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$8.99
Hiding Place
by Corrie Ten Boom
35th Anniversary Edition from Chosen Books
Biography for 6th-10th grade
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$15.99
Hiding Place - Audio Drama (CD)
by Corrie Ten Boom
Unabridged from Focus on the Family
for 6th-10th grade
in Audio Books & Dramas (Location: CD-AUDIO)
$23.99
History of US Book 7
History of US Book 7
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
in History of US (Location: HISA-HAKIM)
$15.95 $11.00 (2 in stock)
Hitler
by Albert Marrin
from Beautiful Feet Books
Biography for 7th-10th grade
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$13.95
Inventing America: The Life of Benjamin Franklin
by Mark Essig
for 6th-12th grade
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$7.00 (1 in stock)
Jacob DeShazer
Christian Heroes: Then and Now
by Geoff Benge, Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Christian Heroes: Then and Now (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
James Fenimore Cooper
by Donald A. Ringe
from Twayne Publishers
for 6th-10th grade
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Jason Lee
Sowers Series
by Charles Ludwig
from Mott Media
Biography for 7th-9th grade
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$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Jed Smith
by Frank Latham
from Christian Liberty Press
Biography for 4th-8th grade
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Jessie Benton Fremont
by Marguerite Higgins
from Beautiful Feet Books
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$13.95
John Flynn
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Christian Heroes: Then and Now (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
John James Audubon: Painting America's Wildlife
by Janet Stevenson, illustrated by Robert Boehmer
from Encyclopedia Britannica
for 7th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
John Paul Jones
Sterling Point Books
by Armstrong Sperry
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in War of 1812 (Location: HISA-19WET)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Journey and Ordeal of Cabeza de Vaca
Dover editions
by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca
from Dover Publications
for 5th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$10.95
Journey That Saved Curious George
by Louise W. Borden
from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 3rd-8th grade
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$8.99
Juan Ponce de Leon
by Louise Chipley Slavicek
1st edition from Chelsea House Publishing
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Kennedy Assassinated! The World Mourns
by Wilborn Hampton
from Candlewick Press
for 5th-9th grade
1998 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Kinderlager
by Milton J. Nieuwsma
from Scholastic Inc.
for 6th-Adult
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Kit Carson: Folk Hero and Man
by Noel B. Gerson
from Doubleday & Company
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
Lady of Arlington
by Harnett T. Kane
from Doubleday & Company
for 6th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Biography
by William Anderson
from HarperTrophy
for 4th-10th grade
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$9.99
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