Noah Webster and Establishing A National Identity

Noah Webster lived in an era of uncertainty as early Americans sought to determine what it meant to be “American.”¹ Many of Webster’s finest achievements were intended to define and secure the young nation’s identity. Noah Webster established a unified American identity through his educational materials, such as A Grammatical Institute of the English Language, and his views on democracy in Sketches of American Policy. 

Noah Webster was born on October 16, 1758 in the West Division of Hartford, Connecticut (now West Hartford). Webster grew up in an average early American family— his father farmed and worked as a weaver, while his mother worked at home. At the time, few people went to college, but Webster long for a complete education. He left for New Haven to attend Yale, Connecticut’s first college, in 1774 when he was 16 and graduated in 1778. Webster wanted to continue his education by studying law, but his parents could not afford to give him more money for school. After weighing his options, Webster began working as a teacher.²

During his years as a schoolteacher, Webster realized the American education system needed to be updated. Early American schoolhouses were often run-down and overcrowded, “with as many as seventy to eighty boys and girls of all ages in a classroom.”³ Webster observed that schoolhouses had no heat, student benches were irregular and uncomfortable. Perhaps most importantly, Webster was appalled by the lack of teacher support, mostly caused by low quality student reading materials.⁴ Even after the American Revolution, many schoolhouses used English textbooks.⁵ Webster believed that Americans should learn from American books, thereby establishing a firm national identity separate from their European counterparts. In 1783, he wrote his own textbook: A Grammatical Institute of the English Language. It earned its nickname, the “Blue-Backed Speller,” because of its characteristic blue cover. For over 100 years, Webster’s book taught children to read, spell and pronounce words. It was the most popular American book of its time, selling nearly 100 million copies. In addition to teaching grammar and spelling, this book provided students with lessons in proper values and morals in hopes of creating a nation of good natured, patriotic citizens.⁶

In 1801, Webster began work on establishing a unique language, which defined words that Americans spoke and were used differently than the English to help people who lived in different parts of the country to speak and spell the same way. Webster knew that in creating an “American English,” it would further separate the emerging nation from England. In his 1789 essay, “The Reformation of Spelling.” He states that with his recommendation for a wholly American way of speaking and acting, “all persons, of every rank, would speak with some degree of precision and uniformity…I am confident that such an event is an object of vast political consequence.”⁷ 

In his first attempt at creating an American dictionary, Webster used spellings like “color” instead of the English “colour” and “music” instead of “musick.” He also added new American words like “skunk” and “squash.” His first edition, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1806. This book offered definitions of about 37,000 words. It took him 22 more years to finish his American Dictionary of the English Language. When he finished in 1828, at the age of 70, Noah’s dictionary contained over 65,000 words, their origin, and their definitions.⁸

Webster knew that the unification and creation of a strong nation went beyond a common language. He also believed that early Americans should have a strong central government. These ideas were displayed in Webster’s, Sketches of American Policy (1785), a series of four essays which predated the United States Constitution, introducing the importance of democracy to the American people. Sketches of American Policy (1785), comprised four essays outlining a plan “for a new constitution of the United States.” Webster advocated power to be “vested in the people” and the right of making laws “vested in all their inhabitants by legal and equal representation.”⁹ This book, which preceded the Constitutional Convention and the Federalist Papers, argued that establishing a proper democratic system would further unite the young nation under a common goal of success. Noah formed a plan with ideas from the writings of Rousseau, Locke, Thomas Paine and Washington, who wrote similar principles in 1782.¹⁰ Using these guiding principles, Webster argued that, “When the sovereign body resides in the whole body of the people, it can not be tyrannical… because the same power which frames a law, suffers all its consequences…”¹¹ This book was read by many prominent Founding Fathers, such as James Madison, and covered a broader range of issues than any other published Federalist document before the Constitutional Convention. As a result, many of these framework ideas can be found in the United States Constitution, as this book resonated with the Founding Fathers, who included all but two ideas from Sketches— universal compulsory education and abolition of slavery.

Despite Webster’s influence on the United States Constitution, he was not chosen as Connecticut’s delegate for the Constitutional Convention. Some historians argue that Webster’s absence was a direct result of his often prickly and spiteful demeanor.¹² While Webster’s written work often benefited his career, it could also be a hindrance. Following Shays Rebellion, Webster published an essay for the November 20, 1786 edition of The Connecticut Courant. Like many, Webster feared that this uprising would lead to civil war. Thus, his article questioned some of the ideas that he promoted in Sketches one year prior, particularly the extent to which power should be placed in the hands of the people. Some advised him not to write it, knowing he would anger the local farmers he once supported, but Webster feared the angry rebellions rising in the states would divide the country.¹³

“People in general are too ignorant to manage affairs which require great reading and an extensive knowledge of foreign nations. This is the misfortune of Republican governments…Now, a republican is among the last kinds I should choose. I would definitely prefer a limited monarchy, for I would sooner be the subject of the caprice of one man, than to the ignorance and passions of the multitude.”¹⁴

-Noah Webster in Connecticut Courant, 11/20/1786, in response to Shays Rebellion

In the years following the Constitution, Webster advocated to receive credit for his contributions to the foundations of American government and democracy. These views were expressed to James Madison in a series of letters from Webster. Webster was particularly upset that in Alexander Hamilton’s eulogy, Hamilton was given credit for proposing a “radical change in the principles of our govt.” Webster believed that his Sketches, instead, deserved credit for pioneering this proposal.

“Mr Otis, in his Eulogy, has asserted that Genl Hamilton in the Convention at Annapolis ‘first suggested the proposal of attempting a radical change in the principles of our govt.’ This may be true, as it respects the proposal in the Convention; but surely the proposal of a radical change was made long before. I published a pamphlet on the subject 18 months before, & took the pains to carry it in person to Genl Washington in May 1785—at his house you read it in the ensuing summer. It is entitled ‘Sketches of American Policy.’ The remarks in the first three Sketches are general & some of them I now believe to be too visionary for practice—but the 4th Sketch, was intended expressly to urge, by all possible arguments, the necessity of a radical alteration in our system of Genl Govt, & an outline is there suggested. As a private man, young & unknown, I could do but little, but that little I did.”¹⁵

While Madison argued in his reply that credit for the foundations of American democracy belong to many, he did concede that Webster was one of the first to call attention to the need for a new, American system.

“The change in our Govt. like most other important improvements ought to be ascribed rather to a series of causes, than to any particular & sudden one, and to the participation of many, rather than to the efforts of a single Agent. It is certain that the general idea of revising & enlarging the scope of the federal Authority, so as to answer the necessary purposes of the Union, grew up in many minds, and by natural degrees, during the experienced inefficacy of the Old Confederation. The discernment of Genl. Hamilton must have rendered him an early patron of the idea. That the public attention was called to it by yourself at an early period is well known.”¹⁶

Noah Webster accomplished many things in his life. Not only did he fight for an American language, he also fought for copyright laws, universal education, and the abolition of slavery. He wrote textbooks, edited magazines, corresponded with men like James Madison, George Washington, and Benjamin Franklin, and helped found Amherst College. When Noah Webster died in 1843, he left behind a legacy responsible for shaping this country’s national identity.