American dictionary of the English language

the long version

Noah Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language was produced during the years when the American home, church and school were established upon a biblical and a patriotic basis. Webster, descended on his mother's side from Pilgrim Governor William Bradford of Plymouth Plantation, made important contributions to an American educational system which kept the nation upon a Christian Constitutional course for many years. Today, when the biblical basis of education is under systematic attack, we need to capitalize upon the availability of our first American dictionary -- the only dictionary in the world to "draw water out of the wells of salvation" -- to utilize God's written Word as a key to the meaning of words. Historically, it documents the degree to which the Bible was America's basic textbook in all fields. - p. 9.