Editing Noah Webster

{{Short description|American lexicographer and author (1758–1843)}}
{{For|the Scottish author who wrote under the pseudonym "Noah Webster"|Bill Knox}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| birthname           = Noah Webster Jr.
| image               = James Herring - Noah Webster - NPG.67.31 - National Portrait Gallery.jpg
| caption             = An 1833 portrait of Webster by [[James Herring]]
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1758|10|16}}
| birth_place         = Western Division of [[Hartford, Connecticut|Hartford]],<ref>{{cite web| last = Dobbs| first = Christopher| title = Noah Webster and the Dream of a Common Language| website = Noah Webster and the Dream of a Common Language| publisher = Connecticut Humanities| url = http://connecticuthistory.org/noah-webster-and-the-dream-of-a-common-language/| access-date = July 24, 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web| title = Connecticut Births and Christenings, 1649–1906| website = FamilySearch| url = https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F74Z-LGD| access-date = July 24, 2015}}</ref> [[Connecticut Colony]], [[British America]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1843|5|28|1758|10|16}}
| death_place         = [[New Haven, Connecticut]], U.S.
| resting_place       = [[Grove Street Cemetery]]
| office              = Member of the [[Connecticut House of Representatives]]
| occupation          = {{unbulleted list|[[Lexicographer]]|Author}}
| spouse              = {{Marriage|Rebecca Greenleaf Webster|October 26, 1789}}
| children            = 8
| party               = [[Federalist Party (United States)|Federalist]]
| alma_mater          = [[Yale College]]
| branch              = Connecticut Militia
| allegiance          = [[United States]]
| battles             = [[American Revolutionary War]]
| footnotes           = 
| term1                = 1800
| termend            = 1807
| termstart          = 1802
}}
[[File:Portrait of Noah Webster.jpg|thumb|A portrait of Webster by [[Samuel Morse]]]]
[[File:Noah Webster House.JPG|thumb|Webster's home in [[New Haven, Connecticut]], where he wrote ''An American Dictionary of the English Language''; the home was later relocated to [[Greenfield Village]] in [[Dearborn, Michigan]].]]
'''Noah Webster''' (October 16, 1758 – May 28, 1843) was an American [[lexicographer]], textbook pioneer, [[English-language spelling reform]]er, [[political writer]], editor, and author. He has been called the "Father of American Scholarship and Education". He authored a large number of "Blue-Backed Speller" books which were used to teach American children how to spell and read. He is also the author for the modern [[Merriam-Webster]] dictionary that was first published in 1828 as ''[[Webster's Dictionary|An American Dictionary of the English Language]]''.

Born in [[West Hartford, Connecticut]], Webster graduated from [[Yale College]] in 1778. He passed the bar examination after studying law under [[Oliver Ellsworth]] and others but was unable to find work as a lawyer. He found some financial success by opening a private school and writing a series of educational books, including the "Blue-Backed Speller". A strong supporter of the [[American Revolution]] and the ratification of the [[United States Constitution]], Webster later criticized American society as being in need of an intellectual foundation. He believed American nationalism had distinctive qualities that differed from European values.<ref>American Reformers: Early/Mid 1800s: Noah Webster. "[http://ahsreform.wikifoundry.com/page/Noah+Webster] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171126195531/http://ahsreform.wikifoundry.com/page/Noah+Webster|date=November 26, 2017}}" accessed July 31, 2019.</ref>

In 1793, [[Alexander Hamilton]] recruited Webster to move to New York City and become an editor for a [[Federalist Party]] newspaper. He became a prolific author, publishing newspaper articles, political essays, and textbooks. He returned to Connecticut in 1798 and served in the [[Connecticut House of Representatives]]. Webster founded the Connecticut Society for the Abolition of Slavery in 1791<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Abolitionist Movement » Farmington Historical Society |url=https://fhs-ct.org/?p=209 |access-date=2024-10-24 |language=en}}</ref> but later became somewhat disillusioned with the [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]] movement.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Author Search Results |url=https://catalog.library.tamu.edu/Author/Home?author=%22Webster,+Noah,+1758-1843%22&type=Author |access-date=2024-11-07 |website=catalog.library.tamu.edu |language=en}}</ref>

In 1806, Webster published his first dictionary, ''[[s:A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language|A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language]]''. The following year, he started working on an expanded and comprehensive dictionary, finally publishing it in 1828. He was influential in popularizing certain American spellings. He played a role in advocating for copyright reform, contributing to the [[Copyright Act of 1831]], the first major statutory revision of [[Copyright law of the United States|U.S. copyright law]]. While working on a second volume of his dictionary, Webster died in 1843, and the rights to the dictionary were acquired by [[George Merriam|George and Charles Merriam]].

==Early life and education==
Webster was born on October 16, 1758, in the [[Noah Webster House]] in western [[Hartford, Connecticut|Hartford]], [[Connecticut Colony]], during the Colonial Era. The area of his birth later became [[West Hartford, Connecticut]]. He was born into an established family, and the Noah Webster House continues to highlight his life and serves as the headquarters of the West Hartford Historical Society. His father, Noah Webster Sr. (1722–1813), was a descendant of Connecticut Governor [[John Webster (governor)|John Webster]]; his mother Mercy (Steele) Webster (1727–1794) was a descendant of Governor [[William Bradford (Plymouth governor)|William Bradford]] of [[Plymouth Colony]].<ref>Noah had two brothers, Abraham (1751–1831) and Charles (b. 1762), and two sisters, Mercy (1749–1820) and Jerusha (1756–1831).</ref> His father was primarily a farmer, though he was also a deacon of the local [[Congregational church]], captain of the town's militia, and a founder of a local book society, a precursor to the public library.<ref>Kendall, Joshua, ''The Forgotten Founding Father'', p. 22.</ref> After American independence, he was appointed a justice of the peace.<ref>Kendall, p. 22.</ref>

Webster's father never attended college, but placed a strong emphasis on education. Webster's mother spent long hours teaching her children spelling, mathematics, and music.<ref>Kendall, pp. 21–23.</ref> At age six, Webster began attending a dilapidated one-room primary school built by West Hartford's Ecclesiastical Society. Years later, he described the teachers as the "dregs of humanity" and complained that the instruction was mainly in religion.<ref>Kendall, pp. 22–24.</ref> Webster's experiences there motivated him to improve the educational experience of future generations.<ref>Kendall, p. 24.</ref>

At age fourteen, he received tutoring from his church pastor in Latin and Greek to prepare him for entering [[Yale College]].<ref>Kendall, pp. 29–30.</ref> Webster enrolled at Yale just before his 16th birthday, and during his senior year studied with [[Ezra Stiles]], Yale's president. He was also a member of [[Brothers in Unity]], a secret society at Yale. His four years at Yale overlapped the [[American Revolutionary War]] and, because of food shortages and the possibility of a British invasion, many classes were held in other towns. Webster served in the Connecticut Militia. His father mortgaged the farm to send Webster to Yale, but after graduating, Webster had little contact with his family.<ref>Richard Rollins, ''The Long Journey of Noah Webster'' (1980) p. 19.</ref>

==Career==
Webster lacked clear career plans after graduating from Yale in 1779, later writing that a [[liberal arts education]] "disqualifies a man for business".<ref>Kendall, p. 54.</ref> He taught school briefly in Glastonbury, but due to harsh working conditions and low pay, he resigned to study law.<ref>Kendall, p. 56.</ref> While studying law under future [[U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice]] [[Oliver Ellsworth]], Webster also taught full-time in Hartford—a grueling experience that ultimately proved unsustainable.<ref>Kendall, p. 57.</ref> He quit his legal studies for a year and lapsed into a [[clinical depression|depression]]; he then found another practicing attorney to tutor him, and completed his studies, and passed the bar examination in 1781.<ref>Kendall, pp. 58–59.</ref>

With the [[American Revolutionary War]] still ongoing, Webster was unable to find work as a lawyer. He received a master's degree from Yale by delivering an oral dissertation to the graduating class. Later that year, he opened a small private school in western Connecticut, which initially succeeded but was eventually closed, possibly due to a failed romance.<ref>Kendall, p. 59-64</ref> Turning to literary work as a way to overcome his losses and channel his ambitions,<ref>Kendall, p. 65.</ref> he began writing a series of well-received articles for a prominent New England newspaper justifying and praising the American Revolution and arguing that the separation from Britain would be a permanent state of affairs.<ref>Kendall, pp. 65–66.</ref> He then founded a private school catering to wealthy parents in [[Goshen, New York]] and, by 1785, he had written his speller, a grammar book and a reader for elementary schools.<ref>Kendall, pp. 69–71.</ref> Proceeds from continuing sales of the popular blue-backed speller enabled Webster to spend many years working on his famous dictionary.<ref>Kendall, pp. 71–74.</ref>

Webster was by nature a revolutionary, seeking American independence from the cultural thralldom to Europe. He aimed to create a utopian America, free from luxury and ostentation, and a champion of freedom.<ref>Rollins (1980) p. 24</ref> By 1781, Webster had an expansive view of the new nation. American nationalism was superior to European nationalism due to the perceived superiority of American values.<ref>Ellis 170</ref>

{{Blockquote|America sees the absurdities—she observes the kingdoms of Europe, disturbed by wrangling sectaries, or their commerce, population, and improvements of every kind cramped and retarded, because the human mind like the body is fettered 'and bound fast by the chords of policy and superstition': She laughs at their folly and shuns their errors: She founds her empire upon the idea of universal toleration: She admits all religions into her bosom; She secures the sacred rights of every individual; and (astonishing absurdity to Europeans!) she sees a thousand discordant opinions live in the strictest harmony ... it will finally raise her to a pitch of greatness and lustre, before which the glory of ancient Greece and Rome shall dwindle to a point, and the splendor of modern Empires fade into obscurity.}}

Webster dedicated his ''Speller'' and ''Dictionary'' to providing an intellectual foundation for American nationalism.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.noahwebsterhouse.org/discover/noah-webster-biography.htm|title=Noah Webster Biography {{!}} Noah Webster House and West Hartford Historical Society {{!}} West Hartford, Connecticut (CT)|website=www.noahwebsterhouse.org|access-date=January 27, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161105000628/http://noahwebsterhouse.org/discover/noah-webster-biography.htm|archive-date=November 5, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> From 1787 to 1789, Webster was an outspoken supporter of the new Constitution. In October 1787, he wrote a pamphlet entitled "An Examination into the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution Proposed by the Late Convention Held at Philadelphia", published under the pen name "A Citizen of America".<ref>Kendall, Joshua, ''The Forgotten Founding Father'', pp. 147–49</ref> The pamphlet was influential, particularly outside New York State.

In political theory, Webster emphasized widespread property ownership, a key element of Federalism. He was also one of the few early American thinkers who applied the theories of the French theorist [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]] in America. He relied heavily on Rousseau's ''[[The Social Contract|Social Contract]]'' while writing ''Sketches of American Policy'', one of the earliest, widely-published arguments for a strong central government in America. He also wrote two "fan fiction" sequels to Rousseau's ''[[Emile, or On Education]]'' (1762) and included them in his Reader for schoolchildren. Webster's Reader also contains an idealized word portrait of Sophie, the girl in Rousseau's ''Emile,'' and Webster used Rousseau's theories in ''Emile'' to argue for the civic necessity of broad-based female education.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Harris |first=Micah |date=2024-09-01 |title=Noah Webster and the Influence of Rousseau on Education in America, 1785–1835 |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/732277 |journal=American Political Thought |language=en |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=505–527 |doi=10.1086/732277 |issn=2161-1580|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Federalist editor==
[[File:Portrait of Rebecca Greenleaf Webster by Jared Bradley Flagg.jpg|thumb|Webster's wife, Rebecca Greenleaf Webster]]
Noah Webster married Rebecca Greenleaf (1766–1847) on October 26, 1789, in [[New Haven, Connecticut]]. They had eight children:
* Emily Schotten (1790–1861), who married [[William W. Ellsworth]] and was named by Webster as an executor of his will.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uIRCsrMwhroC&q=%22william+w.+ellsworth%22+noah+webster+williams&pg=PA256 |title=Noah Webster and the American Dictionary, David Micklethwait, McFarland, 2005 |date= January 21, 2005|access-date=December 9, 2011|isbn=9780786421572 |last1=Micklethwait |first1=David |publisher=McFarland }}</ref> Emily, their daughter, later married Rev. Abner Jackson, who became president of both [[Trinity College Dublin|Trinity College]] in Hartford and [[Hobart College, Tasmania|Hobart College]] in [[Geneva, New York]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/genealogygreenl00greegoog |page=[https://archive.org/details/genealogygreenl00greegoog/page/n265 221] |quote=william greenleaf webster ellsworth. |title=Genealogy of the Greenleaf family |publisher=F. Wood |year=1896 |access-date=December 9, 2011}}</ref>
* Frances Julianna (1793–1869), married [[Chauncey Allen Goodrich]]
* Harriet (1797–1844), who married [[William Chauncey Fowler]]
* Mary (1799–1819) m. Horatio Southgate (1781–1864), son of Dr. Robert and Mary King Southgate
* William Greenleaf (1801–1869)
* Eliza Steele (1803–1888) m. Rev. Henry Jones (1801–1878)
* Henry Bradford (1806–1807)
* Louisa Greenleaf (1808–1874)

Webster joined the elite in [[Hartford, Connecticut]], but did not have substantial financial resources. In 1793, [[Alexander Hamilton]] lent him $1,500 (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US|value=1500|start_year=1793}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}) to move to [[New York City]] to edit the leading [[Federalist Party]] newspaper. In December, he founded New York's first daily newspaper ''American Minerva'', later renamed the ''[[Commercial Advertiser]]'', which he edited for four years, writing the equivalent of 20 volumes of articles and editorials. He also published the semi-weekly publication ''The Herald, A Gazette for the country'', later known as the ''[[New-York Spectator]]''.

As a Federalist spokesman, Webster defended the administrations of [[George Washington]] and [[John Adams]], especially their policy of neutrality between Britain and France, and he especially criticized the excesses of the [[French Revolution]] and its [[Reign of Terror]]. When French ambassador [[Edmond-Charles Genêt|Citizen Genêt]] set up a network of pro-Jacobin "[[Democratic-Republican Societies]]" that entered American politics and attacked President Washington, he condemned them. He later defended [[Jay's Treaty]] between the United States and Britain. As a result, he was repeatedly denounced by the [[Democratic-Republican Party|Jeffersonian Republicans]] as "a pusillanimous, half-begotten, self-dubbed patriot", "an incurable lunatic", and "a deceitful newsmonger ... Pedagogue and Quack."<ref>Ellis 199.</ref>

For decades, he was one of the most prolific authors in the new nation, publishing textbooks, political essays, a report on infectious diseases, and newspaper articles for his Federalist party. 

In 1799 Webster wrote two massive volumes on the causes of "epidemics and pestilential diseases". Medical historians have considered him as "America's first epidemiologist".<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://academic.oup.com/jhmas/article-abstract/XX/2/97/847566?redirectedFrom=fulltext | doi=10.1093/jhmas/XX.2.97 | title=Noah Webster—Historical Epidemiologist | date=1965 | last1=Rosen | first1=George | journal=Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences | volume=XX | issue=2 | pages=97–114 | pmid=14323774 | url-access=subscription }}</ref> He was so prolific that a modern bibliography of his works spans 655 pages.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Bibliography of the Writings of Noah Webster|url=https://archive.org/details/biwr00skee/page/n9/mode/2up|publisher=New York Public Library|access-date=January 21, 2025}}</ref> He moved back to New Haven in 1798 and was elected as a Federalist to the [[Connecticut House of Representatives]] in 1800 and 1802–1807.

Webster was elected a fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1799.<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter W|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterW.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=August 7, 2014}}</ref> He moved to [[Amherst, Massachusetts]] in 1812, where he helped to found [[Amherst College]]. In 1822, his family moved back to New Haven, where Webster was awarded an honorary degree from Yale the following year. In 1827, Webster was elected to the [[American Philosophical Society]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=1827&year-max=1827&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2021-04-07|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>

==School Books==
[[File:Noah Webster's prospectus for his English language dictionary.jpg|thumb|''To the Friends of Literature in the United States'', Webster's [[prospectus (book)|prospectus]] for his first dictionary of the [[English language]], 1807–1808]]
[[File:Handwritten drafts of dictionary entries Noah Webster.jpg|thumb|[[Handwriting|Handwritten]] drafts of dictionary entries by Webster]]
[[File:Noah Webster The Schoolmaster of the Republic.jpg|thumb|''Noah Webster, The Schoolmaster of the Republic'', published in 1886]]
As a teacher, Webster grew dissatisfied with American elementary schools. They could be overcrowded, with up to seventy children of all ages crammed into [[one-room schoolhouse]]s. They suffered from poorly paid staff, lacked desks, and used unsatisfactory textbooks imported from England. Webster thought that Americans should learn from American books, so he began writing the three-volume compendium ''A Grammatical Institute of the English Language''. The work consisted of a speller (published in 1783), a grammar (published in 1784), and a reader (published in 1785). His aim was to provide a uniquely American approach to education. His most important improvement, he claimed, was to rescue "our native tongue" from "the clamour<!-- Citing this article, "at first he kept the ''u'' in words like ''colour'' or ''favour''" so this quotation should have a 'U' in clamour --> of pedantry" that surrounded English grammar and pronunciation. He complained that the English language had been corrupted by the British aristocracy, which set its own standard for proper spelling and pronunciation.<ref>See Brian Pelanda, [https://ssrn.com/abstract=1941506 Declarations of Cultural Independence: The Nationalistic Imperative Behind the Passage of Early American Copyright Laws, 1783–1787] 58 Journal of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A. 431, 431–454 (2011).</ref> Webster rejected the notion that the study of Greek and Latin must precede the study of English grammar. The appropriate standard for the American language, argued Webster, was "the same republican principles as American civil and ecclesiastical constitutions." This meant that the people at large must control the language; popular sovereignty in government must be accompanied by popular usage of language.

The ''Speller'' was designed to be easily taught to students, progressing according to age. From his own experiences as a teacher, Webster thought that the ''Speller'' should be simple and give an orderly presentation of words and the rules of spelling and pronunciation. He believed that students learned most readily when he broke a complex problem into its component parts and had each pupil master one part before moving to the next.

Ellis argues that Webster anticipated some of the insights currently associated with [[Piaget's theory of cognitive development|Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development]]. Webster said that children pass through distinctive learning phases in which they master increasingly complex or abstract tasks. Therefore, teachers must not try to teach a three-year-old how to read; they could not do it until age five. He organized his speller accordingly, beginning with the alphabet and moving systematically through the different sounds of vowels and consonants, then syllables, then simple words, then more complex words, then sentences.<ref>Ellis 174.</ref>

The speller was originally titled ''The First Part of the Grammatical Institute of the English Language''. Over the course of 385 editions in his lifetime, the title was changed in 1786 to ''The American Spelling Book'', and again in 1829 to ''The Elementary Spelling Book''. Most people called it the "Blue-Backed Speller" because of its blue cover and, for the next one hundred years, Webster's book taught children how to read, spell, and pronounce words. It was the most popular American book of its time; by 1837, it had sold 15 million copies, and some 60 million by 1890—reaching the majority of young students in the nation's first century. Its royalty of a half-cent per copy was enough to sustain Webster in his other endeavors. It also helped create the popular contests known as [[spelling bee]]s.

As time went on, Webster changed the spellings in the book to more phonetic ones. Most of them already existed as alternative spellings.<ref name=algeo599>Algeo, John. "The Effects of the Revolution on Language," in ''A Companion to the American Revolution''. John Wiley & Sons, 2008. p. 599</ref> He chose spellings such as ''defense'', ''color'', and ''traveler'', and changed the ''re'' to ''er'' in words such as ''center''. He also changed ''tongue'' to the older spelling ''tung'', but this did not catch on.<ref>Scudder 1881, pp. 245–52.</ref>

Part three of his ''Grammatical Institute'' (1785) was a reader designed to uplift the mind and "diffuse the principles of virtue and patriotism."<ref>{{cite book |first=Harry Redcay |last=Warfel |title=Noah Webster, schoolmaster to America |year=1966 |page=86 |location=New York |publisher=Octagon }}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text="In the choice of pieces", he explained, "I have not been inattentive to the political interests of America. Several of those masterly addresses of Congress, written at the commencement of the late Revolution, contain such noble, just, and independent sentiments of liberty and patriotism, that I cannot help wishing to transfuse them into the breasts of the rising generation."}}

Students received the usual quota of [[Plutarch]], [[Shakespeare]], [[Jonathan Swift|Swift]], and [[Joseph Addison]], as well as such Americans as [[Joel Barlow]]'s ''[[The Columbiad|Vision of Columbus]]'', [[Timothy Dwight IV|Timothy Dwight]]'s ''Conquest of Canaan'', and [[John Trumbull (poet)|John Trumbull]]'s poem ''[[M'Fingal]].'' The Reader included two, original, fan-fiction sequels to ''[[Emile, or On Education|Emile or On Education]]'' by ''[[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]]'', a portrait of Rousseau's character, Sophie, and a tribute to Juliana Smith who had recently rejected Webster's romantic advances.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Harris |first=Micah |date=2024-09-01 |title=Noah Webster and the Influence of Rousseau on Education in America, 1785–1835 |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/732277 |journal=American Political Thought |language=en |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=505–527 |doi=10.1086/732277 |issn=2161-1580|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kendall |first=Joshua C. |title=The forgotten founding father: Noah Webster's obsession and the creation of an American culture |date=2010 |publisher=Putnam |isbn=978-0-399-15699-1 |location=New York, NY |pages=60, 66–67}}</ref> Webster also included excerpts from [[Tom Paine]]'s ''The Crisis'' and an essay by [[Thomas Day (writer)|Thomas Day]] calling for the abolition of slavery in accord with the Declaration of Independence.

Webster's Speller was relatively secular.<ref>Ellis, ''After the Revolution: Profiles of Early American Culture'' (1979) p. 175</ref> It ended with two pages of important dates in American history, beginning with Columbus's discovery of America in 1492 and ending with the [[Siege of Yorktown|battle of Yorktown]] in 1781. "Let sacred things be appropriated for sacred purposes," Webster wrote. As Ellis explains, "Webster began to construct a secular catechism to the nation-state. Here was the first appearance of 'civics' in American schoolbooks. In this sense, Webster's speller became what was to be the secular successor to ''The New England Primer'' with its explicitly biblical injunctions."<ref>Ellis 175.</ref>

Later in life, Webster became more religious and incorporated religious themes into his work. However, after 1840, Webster's books lost market share to the ''McGuffey Eclectic Readers'' of [[William Holmes McGuffey]], which sold over 120 million copies.<ref>{{cite book |first=John H. III |last=Westerhoff |title=McGuffey and His Readers: Piety, Morality, and Education in Nineteenth-Century America |url=https://archive.org/details/mcguffeyhisreade1978west |url-access=registration |year=1978 |location=Nashville |publisher=Abingdon |isbn=0-687-23850-1 }}</ref>

Vincent P. Bynack (1984) examines Webster in relation to his commitment to the idea of a unified American national culture that would stave off the decline of republican virtues and solidarity. Webster acquired his perspective on language from such theorists as [[Pierre Louis Maupertuis|Maupertuis]], [[Johann David Michaelis|Michaelis]], and [[Johann Gottfried Herder|Herder]]. There he found the belief that a nation's linguistic forms and the thoughts correlated with them shaped individuals' behavior. Thus, the etymological clarification and reform of American English promised to improve citizens' manners and thereby preserve republican purity and social stability. This presupposition animated Webster's ''Speller'' and ''Grammar''.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Vincent P. |last=Bynack |title=Noah Webster and the Idea of a National Culture: the Pathologies of Epistemology |journal=Journal of the History of Ideas |year=1984 |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=99–114 |doi= 10.2307/2709333|jstor=2709333 }}</ref>

==Dictionary==
{{Main|Webster's Dictionary}}

===Publication===
[[File:Noah Webster 1958 issue.JPG|thumb|Webster honored on a U.S. postage stamp issued in 1958]]
In 1806, Webster published his first [[dictionary]], [[s:A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language|''A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language'']]. By 1807, he began work on a more extensive dictionary, ''An American Dictionary of the English Language'', which took twenty-six years to complete. To evaluate the etymology of words, Webster learned twenty-eight languages, including [[Old English]], Gothic, German, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, French, Dutch, Welsh, Russian, Hebrew, Aramaic, Persian, Arabic, and [[Sanskrit]]. His goal was to standardize American English, which varied widely across the country. They also spelled, pronounced, and used English words differently.<ref>Pearson, Ellen Holmes. "[http://www.teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/25489 The Standardization of American English]," [http://www.teachinghistory.org Teachinghistory.org], accessed March 21, 2012</ref> However, his level of understanding for these languages was challenged with [[Charlton Laird]] claiming that Webster struggled with "elements of Anglo-Saxon grammar" and that he did "not recognize common words".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Laird |first=Charlton |date=Feb 1946 |title=Etymology, Anglo-Saxon, and Noah Webster |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/487343 |journal=[[American Speech]] |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=8 |doi=10.2307/487343  |jstor=487343 }}</ref> Thomas Pyles also went on to write that Webster showed "an ignorance of German which would disgrace a freshman".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pyles |first=Thomas |title=Words and Ways of American English |publisher=Random House |year=1952 |isbn= |edition=1 |pages=99 |language=en |asin=B0006ASZUG}}</ref>

Webster completed his dictionary during his year abroad in January 1825 in a boarding house in [[Cambridge]], England.<ref>{{cite book |first=Jill |last=Lepore |title=The Story of America: Essays on Origins |location=Princeton, New Jersey |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-691-15399-5 |pages=125 }}</ref> His book contained seventy thousand words, of which twelve thousand had never appeared in a published dictionary before. As a [[spelling reform]]er, Webster preferred spellings that matched pronunciation better. In ''A Companion to the American Revolution'' (2008), [[John Algeo]] notes: "It is often assumed that characteristically [[American and British English spelling differences|American spellings]] were invented by Noah Webster. He was very influential in popularizing certain spellings in America, but he did not originate them. Rather ... he chose already existing options such as ''center, color'' and ''check'' on such grounds as simplicity, analogy or etymology."<ref name="algeo599"/> He also added American words, like "skunk", that did not appear in British dictionaries. At the age of seventy, Webster published his dictionary in 1828, registering the copyright on April 14.<ref name="Wright2006">{{cite book|last=Wright|first=Russell O.|title=Chronology of education in the United States|url=https://archive.org/details/chronologyofeduc0000wrig|url-access=registration|access-date=April 13, 2012|year=2006|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-2502-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/chronologyofeduc0000wrig/page/44 44]}}</ref>

Despite its significant place in the history of American English, Webster's first dictionary sold only 2,500 copies. He was forced to mortgage his home to develop a second edition, and for the rest of his life, he had debt problems.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Noah Webster {{!}} American lexicographer {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Noah-Webster-American-lexicographer |access-date=2022-03-01 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

In 1840, the second edition was published in two volumes. On May 28, 1843, a few days after he had completed making more specific definitions to the second edition, and with much of his efforts with the dictionary still unrecognized, Noah Webster died. The rights to his dictionary were acquired by Charles and [[George Merriam]] in 1843 from Webster's estate and all contemporary [[Merriam-Webster]] dictionaries trace their lineage to that of Webster, although many others have adopted his name, attempting to share in the popularity. He is buried in New Haven's [[Grove Street Cemetery]].<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/Look-it-up-Noah-Webster-s-famous-dictionary-was-11581993.php| title = ''New Haven Register''| date = April 10, 2011}}</ref>

===Influence===
[[File:A Dictionary of the English Language Noah Webster title page.jpg|thumb|[[Title page]] of Webster's ''Dictionary of the English Language'', {{c.|1830–1840}}]]
Lepore (2008) illustrates Webster's paradoxical views on language and politics and explains why his work was initially poorly received. Culturally conservative Federalists denounced the work as radical—too inclusive in its lexicon and even bordering on vulgar. Meanwhile, Webster's old foes the Republicans attacked the man, labeling him mad for such an undertaking.<ref>{{cite book |first=Jill |last=Lepore |chapter=Introduction |editor-first=Arthur |editor-last=Schulman |title=Websterisms: A Collection of Words and Definitions Set Forth by the Founding Father of American English |publisher=Free Press |year=2008 }}</ref>

Scholars have long seen Webster's 1844 dictionary to be an important resource for reading poet [[Emily Dickinson]]'s life and work; she once commented that the "Lexicon" was her "only companion" for years. One biographer said, "The dictionary was no mere reference book to her; she read it as a priest his breviary—over and over, page by page, with utter absorption."<ref>{{cite journal |first=Jed |last=Deppman |title='I Could Not Have Defined the Change': Rereading Dickinson's Definition Poetry |journal=Emily Dickinson Journal |volume=11 |issue=1 |year=2002 |pages=49–80 |doi=10.1353/edj.2002.0005 |s2cid=170669035 }} Martha Dickinson Bianchi, ''The life and letters of Emily Dickinson'' (1924) p. 80 for quote</ref>

Nathan Austin has explored the intersection of lexicographical and poetic practices in American literature, and attempts to map out a "lexical poetics" using Webster's definitions as his base. Poets mined  his dictionaries, often drawing upon the lexicography in order to express word play. Austin explicates key definitions from both the ''Compendious'' (1806) and ''American'' (1828) dictionaries, and finds a range of themes such as the politics of "American" versus "British" English and issues of national identity and independent culture. Austin argues that Webster's dictionaries helped redefine Americanism in an era of highly flexible cultural identity. Webster himself saw the dictionaries as a nationalizing device to separate America from Britain, calling his project a "federal language", with competing forces towards regularity on the one hand and innovation on the other. Austin suggests that the contradictions of Webster's lexicography were part of a larger play between liberty and order within American intellectual discourse, with some pulled toward Europe and the past, and others pulled toward America and the new future.<ref>Nathan W. Austin, "Lost in the Maze of Words: Reading and Re-reading Noah Webster's Dictionaries", ''Dissertation Abstracts International'', 2005, Vol. 65 Issue 12, p. 4561</ref>

In 1850 [[Blackie and Son]] in Glasgow published the first general dictionary of English that relied heavily upon pictorial illustrations integrated with the text. Its ''The Imperial Dictionary, English, Technological, and Scientific, Adapted to the Present State of Literature, Science, and Art; On the Basis of Webster's English Dictionary'' used Webster's for most of their text, adding some additional technical words that went with illustrations of machinery.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Michael |last=Hancher |title=Gazing at the Imperial Dictionary |journal=Book History |volume=1 |year=1998 |pages=156–181 |doi=10.1353/bh.1998.0006 |s2cid=161573226 }}</ref>

==Views==
===Religion===
[[File:Noah Webster letter to Eliza Webster on abolitionism 1837.jpg|thumb|Letter from Webster to daughter Eliza, 1837, warning of perils of the [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]] movement]]
In his early years, Webster was a freethinker, but in 1808 he became a convert to Calvinistic orthodoxy, and thereafter became a devout [[Congregationalist]] who preached the need to Christianize the nation.<ref>Snyder (1990).</ref>  Webster viewed language as a means to control disruptive thoughts. His ''American Dictionary'' emphasized the virtues of social control over human passions and individualism, submission to authority, and fear of God; they were necessary for the maintenance of the American social order. As he grew older, Webster's attitudes changed from those of an optimistic revolutionary in the 1780s to those of a pessimistic critic of man and society by the 1820s.<ref>Rollins (1980).</ref>

His 1828 ''American Dictionary'' contained the greatest number of Biblical definitions given in any reference volume. Webster said of education,

{{blockquote|Education is useless without the Bible. The Bible was America's basic text book in all fields. God's Word, contained in the Bible, has furnished all necessary rules to direct our conduct.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mary Babson Fuhrer|title=A Crisis of Community: The Trials and Transformation of a New England Town, 1815–1848|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZMIBAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA294|year=2014|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|page=294|isbn=9781469612874}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Webster |first1=Noah |title=Notable Quotes |url=http://webstersdictionary1828.com/Quotes |website=Webster's 1828 Dictionary - Online Edition |access-date=10 April 2019}}</ref>}}

Webster released his own edition of the Bible in 1833, called the [[Common Version]]. He used the [[King James Version]] (KJV) as a base and consulted the Hebrew and Greek along with various other versions and commentaries. Webster molded the KJV to correct grammar, replaced words that were no longer used, and removed words and phrases that could be seen as offensive.

In 1834, he published ''Value of the Bible and Excellence of the Christian Religion'', an [[apologetic]] book in defense of the Bible and Christianity itself.

===Slavery===

Initially supportive of the [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist movement]], Webster helped found the [[History of slavery in Connecticut|Connecticut Society for the Abolition of Slavery]] in 1791.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xxSGv0uGKkYC&q=%22noah+webster%22+abolitionist&pg=PA1801 |title=Noah Webster and the First American Dictionary, Luisanna Fodde Melis, Rosen Publishing Group, New York, 2005 |access-date=December 9, 2011|isbn=9781404226517 |last1=Melis |first1=Luisanna Fodde |year=2005 |publisher=PowerPlus Books }}</ref> However, by the 1830's he began to disagree with the movement's arguments that Americans who did not actively oppose the institution of [[Slavery in the United States|slavery]] were complicit in the system. In 1832, Webster wrote and published a [[history]] textbook titled ''History of the United States'', which omitted any reference to the role of slavery in [[History of the United States|American history]] and included [[Racism against African Americans|racist]] characterizations of [[African Americans]]. The textbook also "spoke of whiteness [[White supremacy|as the supreme race]] and declared [[Anglo-Americans|Anglo Saxons]] as the only true Americans."<ref>{{Cite web|first=Abigail|last=Covington|title=The Long and Gruesome History of the Battle Over American Textbooks|url=https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a41368609/teaching-white-supremacy-donald-yacovone-interview/|publisher=[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]|date=September 27, 2022|access-date=December 7, 2022}}</ref> In 1837, Webster criticized his daughter Eliza for her support for the abolitionist movement, writing that "slavery is a great sin and a general calamity—but it is not ''our'' sin, though it may prove to be a terrible calamity to us in the north. But we cannot legally interfere with the South on this subject. To come north to preach and thus disturb ''our'' peace, when we can legally do nothing to effect this object, is, in my view, highly criminal and the preachers of abolitionism deserve the penitentiary."<ref name="americanaejournal.hu">Florea, Silvia. ''Americana'' Vol. VI, No 2, Fall 2010 "Lessons from the Heart and Hearth of Colonial Philadelphia: Reflections on Education, As Reflected in Colonial Era Correspondence to Wives." [http://americanaejournal.hu/vol6no2/florea#fn7]</ref>

===Copyright===
[[File:Noah Webster statue by Korczak Ziółkowski.jpg|thumb|A 1932 statue of Webster by [[Korczak Ziółkowski]] at the [[West Hartford, Connecticut]] public library]]
Webster advocated for the expansion of [[copyright]] protections. The [[Copyright Act of 1831]] was the first major statutory revision of [[U.S. copyright law]], a result of intensive lobbying by Noah Webster and his agents in Congress.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.copyrighthistory.org/cgi-bin/kleioc/0010/exec/ausgabe/%22us_1831%22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081001230838/http://www.copyrighthistory.org/cgi-bin/kleioc/0010/exec/ausgabe/%22us_1831%22 |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 1, 2008 |title=Copyright Act (1831), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450–1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer |publisher=Copyrighthistory.org |access-date=December 9, 2011 }}</ref> Webster played a critical role lobbying individual states throughout the country during the 1780s to pass the first American copyright laws, which were expected to have distinct nationalistic implications for the young nation.<ref>See Brian Pelanda, "Declarations of Cultural Independence: The Nationalistic Imperative Behind the Passage of Early American Copyright Laws, 1783–1787" 58 ''[[Journal of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A.]]'' 431, 437–42 (2011) [https://ssrn.com/abstract=1941506 online].</ref>

== Selected works ==
* ''[[Dissertation on the English Language]]'' (1789)
* ''Collection of Essays and Fugitive Writings on Moral, Historical, Political, and Literary Subjects'' (1790)
* ''The American Spelling Book'' (1783)
* ''The Elementary Spelling Book'' (1829)
* ''Value of The Bible and Excellence of the Christian Religion'' (1834)

=== Posthumous ===
* ''Rudiments of English Grammar'' (1899)

==See also==
* [[First Party System]]
* [[Webster, Burnett County, Wisconsin|Webster, Wisconsin]], a town named for Noah Webster<ref name="Gard2015">{{cite book|author=Robert E. Gard|title=The Romance of Wisconsin Place Names|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J8auCgAAQBAJ|date=September 9, 2015|publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society Press|isbn=978-0-87020-708-2}}</ref>
* [[Daniel Webster Family Home]]

{{Portal bar|Biography|Connecticut|Education}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* "Noah Webster" in ''The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes'' (1907–21). vol 18 section 25:33 [http://www.bartleby.com/228/0233.html online edition]
* {{Cite journal |last=Bynack |first=V. P. |date=1984 |title=Noah Webster's Linguistic Thought and the Idea of an American National Culture |url=https://jstor.org/stable/2709333 |journal=[[Journal of the History of Ideas]] |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=99–114|doi=10.2307/2709333 |jstor=2709333 |url-access=subscription }}
* [[Joseph J. Ellis|Ellis, Joseph J.]] ''After the Revolution: Profiles of Early American Culture'' 1979. chapter 6, interpretive essay [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=101499638 online edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080331202158/https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=101499638 |date=March 31, 2008 }}
* Gallardo, Andres. "The Standardization of American English." PhD dissertation State U. of New York, Buffalo 1980. 367 pp. DAI 1981 41(8): 3557-A. 8104193, focused on Webster's dictionary
* Kendall, Joshua. ''The Forgotten Founding Father: Noah Webster's Obsession and the Creation of an American Culture'' (2011)
* Leavitt, Robert Keith. ''Noah's Ark New England Yankees and the Endless Quest: a Short History of the Original Webster Dictionaries, With Particular Reference to Their First Hundred Years'' (1947). 106 pp
* {{Cite magazine |last=Lepore |first=Jill |author-link=Jill Lepore |date=October 29, 2006 |title=Noah's Mark |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/11/06/noahs-mark |url-access=subscription |access-date=January 20, 2023 |magazine=[[The New Yorker]]}}
* Malone, Kemp. "Webster, Noah," ''Dictionary of American Biography,'' Volume 10 (1936)
* {{Cite book |last=Micklethwait |first=David |url=https://archive.org/details/noahwebsterameri0000mick |title=Noah Webster and the American Dictionary |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |year=2005 |isbn=9780786421572 |language=en |orig-date=2000}}
* Morgan, John S. ''Noah Webster'' (1975), popular biography
* Moss, Richard J. ''Noah Webster.'' (1984). 131 pp. Wester as author
* Nelson, C. Louise. "Neglect of Economic Education in Webster's 'Blue-Backed Speller'" ''American Economist'', Vol. 39, 1995 [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5000309723 online edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080129202953/https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5000309723 |date=January 29, 2008 }}
* Pelanda, Brian. [https://ssrn.com/abstract=1941506 Declarations of Cultural Independence: The Nationalistic Imperative Behind the Passage of Early American Copyright Laws, 1783–1787] Journal of the Copyright Society of the US, Vol. 58, p.&nbsp;431, 2011.
* Proudfit, Isabel. ''Noah Webster Father of the Dictionary'' (1966).
* {{Cite book |last=Rollins |first=Richard M. |url=https://archive.org/details/longjourneyofnoa0000roll |title=The Long Journey of Noah Webster |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=1980 |isbn=9780812277784 |language=en}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Rollins |first=Richard M. |date=1976 |title=Words as Social Control: Noah Webster and the Creation of the American Dictionary |url=https://jstor.org/stable/2712538 |journal=[[American Quarterly]] |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages=415–430|doi=10.2307/2712538 |jstor=2712538 |url-access=subscription }}
* {{cite book |last=Scudder |first=Horace E. |title=Noah Webster |publisher=The Riverside Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |year=1881 |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31238/31238-h/31238-h.htm |author-link1=Horace Scudder}}
* Snyder, K. Alan. ''Defining Noah Webster: Mind and Morals in the Early Republic.'' (1990). 421 pp.
* {{Cite journal |last=Southard |first=Bruce |date=1979 |title=Noah Webster: America's Forgotten Linguist |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/454522 |journal=[[American Speech]] |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=12–22|doi=10.2307/454522 |jstor=454522 |url-access=subscription }}
* {{Cite book |last=Unger |first=Harlow Giles |url=https://archive.org/details/noahwebsterlifet00unge |title=Noah Webster: The Life and Times of an American Patriot |publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]] |year=1998 |isbn=9780471184553 |language=en |author-link=Harlow Giles Unger}}
* Warfel, Harry R. ''Noah Webster: Schoolmaster to America'' (1936), a standard biography

===Primary sources===
* Harry R. Warfel, ed., ''Letters of Noah Webster'' (1953),
* Homer D. Babbidge Jr., ed., ''Noah Webster: On Being American'' (1967), selections from his writings
* Webster, Noah. ''The American Spelling Book: Containing the Rudiments of the English Language for the Use of Schools in the United States by Noah Webster'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=GwhCAAAAYAAJ&q=intitle:spelling+intitle:book+inauthor:noah+inauthor:webster 1836 edition online], the famous Blue- Backed Speller
* Webster, Noah. ''An American dictionary of the English language'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=xGIPAAAAYAAJ 1848 edition online]
* Webster, Noah. ''A grammatical institute of the English language'' [https://archive.org/details/agrammaticalins00websgoog 1800 edition online]
* Webster, Noah. ''Miscellaneous papers on political and commercial subjects'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=pzAoAAAAYAAJ 1802 edition online] mostly about banks
* Webster, Noah. ''A collection of essays and fugitiv writings: on moral, historical, political and literary subjects'' [https://archive.org/details/acollectionessa00websgoog 1790 edition online] 414 pages

==External links==
{{Sister project links | wikt=no | v=no | b=no |s=Author:Noah Webster |d=Q241676}}
* [https://archivesspace.amherst.edu/repositories/2/resources/83 Noah Webster Family Papers] from the Amherst College Archives & Special Collections
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051218215228/http://noahwebsterhouse.org/biography.html The Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society]
* [http://www.joneslibrary.org/specialcollections/collections/mss.html Noah Webster Collection, Special Collections, Jones Library, Amherst MA]
* [http://www.m-w.com/info/noah.htm Noah Webster] on the Merriam-Webster website
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120430022952/http://www.ctheritage.org/encyclopedia/ct1763_1818/webster.htm Connecticut Heritage website]
* {{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Webster, Noah |volume=28 |page=463 |short=1}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=139| name=Noah Webster}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Noah Webster}}
* [http://1828.mshaffer.com/ Searchable Webster's 1828 dictionary] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20070510215627/http://1913.mshaffer.com/ Searchable Webster's 1913 dictionary]—both in the public domain.
* [http://www.verselink.org/ Searchable Webster's 1828 wildcard dictionary]
* [http://bible.christiansunite.com/webindex.shtml Webster Bible text]
* [http://www.bible-researcher.com/webster.html Preface to the Webster Bible]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070213050129/http://www.believersresource.com/content.aspx?id=8 Downloadable PDF of the Webster Bible]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061218052544/http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/DKitchen/new_655/webster_language.htm A proposal for spelling reform from his younger and more radical days]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170914034558/http://www.biblesway.com/versions/webster_bible/ Online Webster Bible Searchable by verse and keywords]
* [http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/t/text/text-idx?type=simple;c=nietz;cc=nietz;sid=fe45facade6b58737889d5eb52bcdb1b;rgn=full%20text;q1=american%20spelling%20book;view=toc;subview=short;sort=occur;start=1;size=25;idno=00acf7166m The American Spelling Book]
* [http://thehistorytavern.blogspot.com/2009/05/noah-webster-on-maintaining-free.html Commentary of a Speech by Noah Webster on July 4, 1802]
* {{librivox author|id=19029}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Webster, Noah}}
[[Category:1758 births]]
[[Category:1843 deaths]]
[[Category:Abolitionists from New York City]]
[[Category:American Congregationalists]]
[[Category:American lexicographers]]
[[Category:American male journalists]]
[[Category:Burials at Grove Street Cemetery]]
[[Category:Connecticut Federalists]]
[[Category:Converts to Calvinism]]
[[Category:English-language spelling reform advocates]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Language reformers]]
[[Category:Linguists of English]]
[[Category:Members of the Connecticut House of Representatives]]
[[Category:New York (state) Federalists]]
[[Category:People from Glastonbury, Connecticut]]
[[Category:People from Goshen, New York]]
[[Category:People from West Hartford, Connecticut]]
[[Category:Writers from Amherst, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Writers from Hartford, Connecticut]]
[[Category:Writers from New Haven, Connecticut]]
[[Category:Yale College alumni]]
[[Category:Yale University alumni]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the Connecticut General Assembly]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]