Advice to the Young
and Moral Catechism
Foreword by
David Barton
Aledo, Texas
Noah Webster’s Advice to the Young and Moral Catechism
Copyright © 1993 David Barton
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Noah Webster is a name recognized by most Americans today, primarily because of the dictionary which bears his name. His achievements, however, go well beyond that momentous work. In fact, for his other extensive efforts in early American education, he has been titled “America’s Schoolmaster.” Actually, however, it was his early activities related to the emergence of America as an independent, self-governing nation which first caused him to focus on education.
Additionally, Noah Webster was one of America’s Founding Fathers, first helping her become independent during the American Revolution, and then helping establish her under a federal Constitution. He realized—like most of the other Founding Fathers—that for America to survive as an independent, self-governing nation, it would need much more than just a new form of government. As explained by Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a leading educator:
We have changed our forms of government, but it remains yet to effect a revolution in our principles, opinions, and manners so as to accommodate them to the forms of government we have adopted. This is the most difficult part of the business of the patriots and legislators of our country.… [E]ducation alone will render the American Revolution a blessing to mankind.1
The Founders realized that the quality of our new government would depend upon the quality of our education. In fact, education became so important to our Founders that in the ten years following the American Revolution, more colleges and universities were established in America than in the 150 years preceding the Revolution.2
The Founders’ involvement in education was diverse: some authored textbooks (e.g., Benjamin Rush, Jedediah Morse); some worked on educational policies and legislation (e.g., George Washington and Rufus King); and some founded universities (e.g., Benjamin Franklin and the University of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia, Abraham Baldwin and the University of Georgia). Noah Webster was one of the few Founding Fathers who participated in all of these aspects of education.
Born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1758, Noah came from a family with a history of leadership. His mother was a descendant of Governor William Bradford of the Pilgrims, and his father was a descendant of John Webster, an early governor of Connecticut.
Noah spent his childhood years learning ...
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About Noah Webster’s Advice to the Young and Moral CatechismNoah Webster was an influential Founding Father, serving as a soldier during the American Revolution and as a legislator in two states after the Revolution. He was the first Founding Father to call for a Constitutional Convention and was personally responsible for the copyright clause found in Article I, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution. Like most of the Founding Fathers, Webster understood that the ability of our new government to endure would depend upon the quality of our educational system. Consequently, he became a leading educator and for almost six decades authored textbooks designed to transmit to subsequent generations the principles embodied in the government he had helped create. |
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