Editing Noah Webster (section)

==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>