Noah Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language was produced during the years when the American home, church and school were established upon a biblical and a patriotic basis. Webster, descended on his mother's side from Pilgrim Governor William Bradford of Plymouth Plantation, made important contributions to an American educational system which kept the nation upon a Christian Constitutional course for many years. Today, when the biblical basis of education is under systematic attack, we need to capitalize upon the availability of our first American dictionary -- the only dictionary in the world to "draw water out of the wells of salvation" -- to utilize God's written Word as a key to the meaning of words. Historically, it documents the degree to which the Bible was America's basic textbook in all fields. - p. 9.
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The pen may be stronger than the sword, but if all else fails you can assault an attacker with this hefty volume. Did you know that there are twenty different definitions for “to”? This is a must-have for any historical writer, to see what words were used in the old days and to see sentence examples with each word. There's even a hefty section on grammar and how to use words properly. (Humorous observation: Webster believed “doesn't” was bad form and advised the use of “don't” instead: “She don't think that I should leap the fence.” I saw this use in a Susan Warner book and thought it a typo, but apparently not.)
A great peek at word use in America in the 1800s and a resource I have used many times.
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