Book Review

in Britain, might be defined as "a meeting of individuals," but in America it also stood for "the assembly of senators and repre sentatives of the several states of North America, according to the present constitution or political compact, by which they are united in a federal republic; the legisla ture of the United States, consist ing of two houses, a senate and a house of representatives." This was something that represented a change from Dr. Johnson's dic tionary. In all, Noah Webster added 12,000 new words to the 70,000 of the latestJ ohnson edi tion. A good Calvinist in his later life, Noah Webster preferred Con gregational Yale in his home town of New Haven to "unitarian" Harvard. Rosalie Slater tells us 1,)~ 124 THE FREEMAN February that he considered that words like "govern," "government," "consti tution," "fast-day," "republic," "democracy," and others "reflect the uniqueness of America's Chris tian founding and God's purpose for her." In other words, the lan guage of politics in America could only be understood by people with a knowledge of the whole Chris tian heritage. The very separation of the powers in America derived from the Biblical injunction to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And the Western theory of inalienable rights, brought to linguistic perfection in the various writings of the Founders, came from Biblical sources.

Webster's Qualifications, Master of Many Languages As Emerson said, an institution is always the lengthened shadow of a man. Webster studied - and apparently mastered - twenty lan guages in order to give exact meaning to "the primary sense of every word." He wanted to track his meanings to their verbal headwaters, thereby freeing him self as a lexicographer "from de pendence on synonyms as substi tutes for exact meaning." (These quotations are from Rosalie Slater's essay.) But life, as Noah Webster lived it in New Haven, Connecticut, and (for an inter lude) in Amherst, Massachusetts, before the Jacksonian Revolution, contributed as much to the dic tionary as any study of Hebrew, Gaelic, or the combination of French and Gothic that the N01" mans superimposed on the Anglo Saxon tongue of eleventh century Britain. Noah Webster's republic was founded on a theory of man as a property holder, but the Founders believed in earned prop erty, not in estates kept unnatu rally large through a legal theory of entail which prevented younger sons from becoming owners.

As Rosalie Slater puts it, "The Christian concept of individual liberty and property established under the United States Constitu tion had produced, for the first time in human history, unlimited opportunity for every man and woman. An explosion of interest and exploration in every field oc curred and invention and the arts flourished. Every man needed to know everything and thus a liter ary, J ohnsonian type of diction ary was not sufficient for an American. New terms in science, industry, and commerce were mul tiplying daily and these were sig nificant in a country where men were independent and 'masters of their own persons and Lords> of their own soil.'" (The italics are Rosalie Slater's.) 1969 WEBSTER;S 1828 ORIGINAL 125 It could be that the italicized quotation has special reference to Noah Webster as an entrepre neurial character and as a part time farmer. Webster said, "Let the people have property and they will have power." He built his own modest competence on his three-part A Grammatical Insti tute of the English Language, which included his 1783 American Spelling Book (the famous "blue backed speller"), his 1783 Gram mar, and his 1785 Reader. As the dates of publication show, these preceded the Constitutional Con vention.

Webster went up and down the colonies - or the states - to sell his own books. Over a hundred year period, one hundred million copies of the Speller "were worn out by Americans as they learned their letters, their morality, and their patriotism" from Webster's subtle combination of words and philosophical substance. The Spel ler, says Rosalie Slater, "was com patible with the hearthside of a log cabin in the wilderness, it travelled on the flatboats of the Ohio, churned down the Missis sippi and creaked across the prair ies of the far west as pioneer mothers taught their children from covered wagons. Wherever an individual wished to challenge his own ignorance or quench his thirst for knowledge, there, along with the Holy Bible and Shakes peare, were Noah Webster's slim and inexpensive Spellers, Gram mars, Readers, and his Elements of Useful Knowledge containing the history and geography of the United States."

Literary Property Rights To protect his literary property, Webster fought for copyright leg islation at both state and national levels. It was his Speller that paid the family bills during the lean years when he was learning twenty languages and compiling his dic tionary. To balance his sedentary hours at the desk, he enjoyed an active life as a small farmer. Dur ing his years in Amherst (he moved there in order to conserve his money), he made the cultiva tion of his own land "a delight and a resource," employing "the ten acres of meadowland surrounding the house agriculturally." Rosalie Slater gives us an unforgettable picture of the lexicographer set ting out an orchard. He "grafted the finest kinds of apples and pears he could find, growing peaches and cherries from the stones. His large, sweet white grapes, raIsed from a fine native vine taken out of his father's farm in West Hartford, were known as 'the Webster vine.' His flowers and the vegetable garden also flourished and prospered and 126 THE FREEMAN February he could say reverently, 'for some years past I have rarely cast my eyes to heaven or plucked the fruit of my garden without feeling emo tions of gratitude and adoration.' "

When he was not working on the dictionary or cultivating his acres, Noah Webster took an ac tive part in public life. He was one of the founders of Amherst Academy, which became Amherst Col lege. For a time he served as President of the Amherst Board of Trustees. He was a whole man, and it is good to have his example set be fore us in an age when whole men are considered rather square. Would that our hippies could get to know him. ~ Copies of the 1828 Webster"s Dictionary may be ordered di rectly from the Foundation for American Christian Education, 2946 Twenty-fifth Avenue, San Francisco, California 94132. $15.00. OTHER BOOKS ~ THE BIRTH OF THE NATION by Arthur M. Schlesinger (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1968), 250 pp., $7.95. Reviewed by Robert M. Thornton IT IS sometimes forgotten that our history as a nation began long be fore the momentous events at Philadelphia. The signing of the Declaration of Independence was the moment of birth following 167 years of gestation as English col onies.

What were the colonists like on the eve of separation from Great Britain? What sort of civilization was to be found on the eastern seaboard of America? The late Professor Schlesinger, a pioneer in writing social history, gives us a cultural portrait of the Ameri can people instead of another po litical account. His effort is ex haustive in scope if not in detail. Each chapter treats a particular phase of colonial culture -- the family, the church, towns, educa tion, science, the arts - demon strating that American colonists were not country bumpkins or barbarians but a highly civilized people. They lagged behind Eu rope in some matters but excelled 1969 OTHER BOOKS 127 the Mother Country in others - in literacy, for instance. They were serious readers, as evidenced by the fact that a Philadelphia pub lisher brought out 1,000 sets of Blackstone's Commentaries him self after selling 1,000 imported copies, a fact remarked on, I be lieve, by Edmund Burke in his speech about the political sophisti cation of the American colonists.

Burke's term, "salutary neg lect," best describes Britain's re lation to the colonies until after the French and Indian War. Britain then introduced a series of regulations and in a dozen years came the separation that few if any wanted or predicted. The colonists were proud to be Englishmen but prouder still to be free men. The colonists, Professor Schles inger points out, were not radi cals. First, they sought to prevent a usurpation of their ancient lib erties and, second, even after pro vocations, did not interpret politi cal separation from Great Britain as a wiping the slate clean of their English heritage. This book should make clear the differences between the American struggle for independence and the revolu tions that have taken place since that time. Prior to 1776 the colonists had built up a remarkable civilization, especially considering all the obstacles they had to overcome. They were eminently capable of govern ing themselves and had done so through the years with astound ing success. Regarding themselves as responsible and mature, they resented the Mother Country's use of the rod to dominate their af fairs, especially as colonial insti tutions had produced leaders who outclassed the Britishers. Euro peans were highly impressed by the stature of the men who sat in the Continental Congresses George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, just to name the giants of that glorious age.

In this day of "instant nations," we need to re-examine the Ameri can people on the eve of inde pendence; hopefully we might then understand the institutions which produced such an abundance of great men. ~ ~ THE AMERICA WE LOST (The Concerns of a Conserva tive) by Mario Pei (New York & Cleve land: The World Publishing Com pany, 1968). 177 pp., $4.95. Reviewed by Robert M. Thornton THE AUTHOR, Professor of Ro mance Philosophy at Columbia University, offers no systematic defense of conservative values; here instead is a collection of 128 THE FREEMAN February short pieces containing his reflec tions on what is wrong with Amer ica. Several have been published before in Reader's Digest, Satur day Evening Post, Modern Age, and other magazines. It is grati fying to come across a scholar who, though not a professional economist or political scientist, can write with so much good sense on these subjects.

Many "liberals" would declare the only thing wrong with our country is that it has not changed enough. Professor Pei disagrees and makes the observation that instead of limiting change to the reforms necessary to ensure jus tice for all we have for years been casting aside what made this na tion great - throwing out the baby with the bath water, as the Ger man saying has it. What is the matter with the United States? The answer, in a word, is Statism. A nation founded on the principle of personal free dom under limited government has embraced collectivist ideas op posed to individual liberty and glorifying the State. This is mani fested in progressive income taxes, compulsory social security taxes, inflationary fiscal policies, bureau cratic controls and regulations, and astronomical Federal spend ing. Of course, totalitarianism is not simply a political or economic problem; it signifies, basically an ethical and moral decline. Weare, for instance, very happy to shrug off personal responsibility; and no longer held responsible, we find life dull and meaningless. Then the cry goes up for constant hand outs and entertainment instead of for opportunity and challenge.

Although imperfect, as all na tions of men must of necessity be, this country was once the most respected and admired in the world. But as we embrace alien ideologies, we succumb to the de mands of our critics to do penance for our prosperity, as if our pros perity were at the expense of other countries instead· of being the con sequence of values held by the men who founded this nation and shaped its institutions. So, concludes Professor Pei, having made the wrong turn sev eral decades ago, we should return to the fork in the road - and take the Right turn. ~ the Freeman VOL. 19, NO.3. MARCH 1969 The Alienated American Linda Darling 131 A challenge to the youth of America from one who cares deeply. Education in America: .6. The Perpetual Adolescent George Charles Roche III 136 Adjustment to the mediocrity of undisciplined youth denies maturity and the advantages of civilization. Tenure Thomas L Johnson A biologist examines the stultifying effects of the tenure idea.