1. Noah Webster
By: Alexa Wegman

2. Life and Background b. October 16, 1758 d. May 28, 1843
Born in the West Division of Hartford, CT
Fourth of five kids to Noah Sr. (a farmer and weaver) and Mercy (a homemaker) Webster
2 brothers: Charles & Abraham
2 sisters: Mercy & Jerusha
Went to Yale 16 years old (1774)
Graduated 4 yrs. later (1778)
Started teaching b/c couldn’t afford to continue into law
Later studied at, and graduated from, law school

3. Need For Reform
Education still based off of teachings from Great Britain
Noah Webster didn’t like American schools
70+ kids of all ages crammed in one-room schoolhouses w/ no desks, poor books, and untrained teachers
School books came from England
Webster thought Americans should learn from American books

4. Contributions A Grammatical Institute of the English Language:
Part I (1783)- “Blue-back Speller”- spelling based
Part II (1784)- grammar based
Part III (1785)- a reader w/ patriotic & moralistic poetry
A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language (1806); its shorter version A Dictionary…Compiled for the Use of Common Schools (1807, revised 1817)
A Philosophical and Practical Grammar of the English Language (1807) – a school textbook

5. Contributions Cont.
Webster’s biggest contribution was the American Dictionary of the English Language (1828)
It took 27 years to create and is composed of 70,000+ words
Webster took it upon himself to learn 26 different languages in order to better understand the origin of the English language
The dictionary surpassed any dictionary of its time
a 2nd edition ( “corrected and enlarged”) was published in 1841 as Webster’s Unabridged

6. Effects
Webster helped distinguish the United States’ English language from that of the U.K./Britain
Did this by establishing a system of rules to govern spelling and grammar
George & Charles Merriam opened a printing and bookselling business (G. & C. Merriam Co.) in 1831, bought unsold copies of the 1841 edition of Webster’s dictionary from Webster’s heirs & secured the rights to create revised editions of the work. They now work under the business name Merriam-Webster Inc., but continue to produce revised copies of Webster’s original work