Detail of Noah Webster from a mid 19th century engraving – Connecticut Historical Society and Connecticut History Online
Noah Webster (1758-1843)
Noah Webster was an educator and reformer who helped Americans develop their own unique sense of identity through language. Born in 1758 in what eventually became the town of West Hartford, Webster graduated from Yale in 1778 and went to work as a teacher. His efforts soon focused, however, on breaking away from the British influence on American language and education. In 1801 he began compiling and defining lists of words with American derivations (such as “color” instead of the British “colour”). Webster turned these lists into a dictionary in 1806. After working on the book for an additional 22 years, he published the American Dictionary of the English Language in 1828, a volume defining over 65,000 words.
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Noah Webster and the Dream of a Common Language
Best remembered for the dictionary that now bears his name, Noah Webster played a pivotal role in shaping the young nation's political and social identity. …[more]
