Noah Webster, Blue Back Speller

We can thank Noah Webster for the Blue Back Speller (also known as the American Spelling Book) and the dictionary. His 1828 Dictionary is the only Christian dictionary ever written! Interesting that this was published around the same time as our nation was being formed, making his definition of words the same as what our founding fathers were thinking when they wrote the Constitution and Declaration of Independence! Something to think about.

Let's take a minute to look up Noah Webster's definition of Education and Marriage:

EDUCA'TION, n. [L. educatio.] The bringing up, as of a child, instruction; formation of manners. Education comprehends all that series of instruction and discipline which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future stations. To give children a good education in manners, arts and science, is important; to give them a religious education is indispensable; and an immense responsibility rests on parents and guardians who neglect these duties.

MAR'RIAGE, n. [L.mas, maris.] The act of uniting a man and woman for life; wedlock; the legal union of a man and woman for life. Marriage is a contract both civil and religious, by which the parties engage to live together in mutual affection and fidelity, till death shall separate them. Marriage was instituted by God himself for the purpose of preventing the promiscuous intercourse of the sexes, for promoting domestic felicity,and for securing the maintenance and education of children.

Marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled. Heb.13.

Did you know that Noah Webster's famous famous Blue Back Speller has set a publishing record that just may be unequalled by any other textbook ever written in America! Published in the mid 1780s, it became the standard for an entire century--when our nation was being formed in the late 1700s and 1800s. More than 100,000,000 copies were sold. This text was the standard of every American child's education. What did it teach? Aside from English and Grammar, it taught the "principles of a republican form of government l[that] had their origin in the Scriptures" and embodied "a love of virtue, patriotism and religion," so that all Americans would be furnished with the foundation for liberty and a way of life that could bring the most happiness and success.