“In the year 1783, just at the close of the revolution, I published an elementary book for facilitating the acquisition of our vernacular tongue and for correcting a vicious pronunciation which prevailed extensively among the common people of this country,” Noah Webster wrote in 1828.
Webster did for the American English language what Samuel Johnson did a century earlier to its British equivalent- standardize it and make it accessible. Though he did come in for a few hard knocks in the 20th century when H.L. Mencken published his more popularized study of American English.
Surely a milestone in American history. The successful revolution was seen as a magnificent leap for humanity. It was as if these new Americans had a new toy and were so proud of what they created. Webster has such stirring as did the framers of the Constitution. This was extended in the building of the common school with its school readers and seeing the need to create a national identity. Subsequently this history was followed by other nations seeking national identity and recgnition.
Webster did for the American English language what Samuel Johnson did a century earlier to its British equivalent- standardize it and make it accessible. Though he did come in for a few hard knocks in the 20th century when H.L. Mencken published his more popularized study of American English.
Surely a milestone in American history. The successful revolution was seen as a magnificent leap for humanity. It was as if these new Americans had a new toy and were so proud of what they created. Webster has such stirring as did the framers of the Constitution. This was extended in the building of the common school with its school readers and seeing the need to create a national identity. Subsequently this history was followed by other nations seeking national identity and recgnition.