Noah Webster was a Christ-centered man. Growing up to a poor farmer, who gave up all he could to send his son to Yale, he would complete his master’s degree. In his final “dissertation he argued that education was important to spread the Christian religion.”[1] Webster did much more for American society than what most people may know. He “wrote extensive treatises on epidemiology,” which helped to establish America’s field of Public Health and first Medical Journal.[2] He pushed for female education in [Christian] public schools. “The importance of female education,” he wrote, “is evident from the influence that women have over the manners of civilized society.”[3] He would also go on to invent “the modern book tour” and would be the first to create America’s standard copyright laws.[4]

Webster made it clear, “I am fully of the opinion that the reformation of the language we speak will some time or other be thought an object of legislative importance. I must think that next to the sacred writings, those books which teach us the principles of science and lay the basis on which all our future improvements must be built, best deserve the patronage of the public. An attention to literature must be the principal bulwark against the encroachments of civil and ecclesiastical tyrants. . . . America must be as independent in literature as she is in politics, as famous for arts as for arms.”[5] Mr. Webster’s parents, humble farmers, were very devout Congregationalists.

His father was a deacon for the church. Noah’s dad wrote him a letter in December of 1792, when he was twenty-four: “I wish to have you serve your generation and do good in the world and be useful and may so behave as to gain the esteem of all virtuous people that are acquainted with you and gain a comfortable subsistence, BUT ESPECIALLY that you may so live as to obtain the favor of almighty God and his grace in this world and a saving interest in the merits of Jesus Christ, without which no man can be happy... Your Affectionate Parents.”
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Proof in the Pudding

Noah Webster thought it to be outright impossible to have a free American Republic without the essence of morals and ethics as instructed in the Bible and through Christianity. He would make mention of this many times over: “Our citizens should early understand that the genuine source of correct republican principles is the Bible, particularly the New Testament, or the Christian religion.”[6] Another mentions that: “Moral habits ... cannot safely be trusted on any other foundation than religious principle nor any government be secure which is not supported by moral habits. ... Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens.[7]

Further, he makes point: “I am persuaded that no civil government of a republican form can exist and be durable in which the principles of that religion have not a controlling influence.”[8] And finally, to make my case, Webster writes: “In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government, ought to be instructed. ... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.”[9]

Ultimately, it was Noah Webster who descended from humble American beginnings. It was also Webster who went on the establish a Biblical worldview on the educational system—beginning with the first schools and ending with much sociopolitical success. Noah would also over his own experiences, cling to Christ in his heart and mind. This is reflected in all of his works, made public and private. It is Noah Webster who was truly an unaccounted-for Founding Father of the early American Republic—even in the face of all his pious, dedicated, and scholarly good works.


Daniel L. Smith
ComplexAmerica.org
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Resources:

[1] "Noah Webster Cures the Blues With a Spelling Book." New England Historical Society. Last modified October 16, 2015. https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/noah-webster-cures-the-blues-with-a-spelling-book/.
[2] Rollins, Richard M. "Search." In The Long Journey of Noah Webster, 89-106. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1980. Accessed May 7, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv512zxr.10.
[3] Unger, Harlow G. Noah Webster: The Life and Times of an American Patriot, 37. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 1998.
[4] White, Timothy. 2000. “Will Artists Fight For Rights As Webster Did?” Billboard 112 (21): 5.
[5] Noah Webster to John Canfield, January 6, 1783 NYPL. "1783-1784" New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 7, 2021. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/b5aa2690-fc26-0132-f38a-58d385a7bbd0
[6] Webster, Noah. Effects of Slavery on Morals and Industry. 1793.
https://archive.org/details/ASPC0001986100
[7] Anderson, Kerby. "American Government and Christianity." Bible.org. Last modified September 2, 2009. https://bible.org/article/american-government-and-christianity. 
[8] "Noah Webster to James Madison, 16 October 1829." Founders Online. Accessed May 6, 2021. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/99-02-02-1897.
[9] Webster, Noah. "Preface." Websters Dictionary 1828. Accessed May 6, 2021. https://www.webstersdictionary1828.com/Preface.