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The forgotten founding father

Noah Webster's obsession and the creation of an American culture

By Joshua C. Kendall

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Publish Date

2010

Publisher

G. P. Putnam's Sons

Language

eng

Pages

355

Description:

Noah Webster's name is now synonymous with the dictionary he created, but his story is not nearly as ubiquitous. Webster hobnobbed with various founding fathers and was a young confidant of George Washington and Ben Franklin. He started New York's first daily newspaper, predating Alexander Hamilton's New York Post. His "blue-backed speller" for schoolchildren sold millions of copies and influenced early copyright law. But perhaps most important, Webster was an ardent supporter of a unified, definitively American culture, distinct from the British, at a time when the United States of America were anything but unified -- and his dictionary of American English is a testament to that. - Back cover.