Noah Webster

Meet Noah Webster, the father of your current Webster dictionary. Dr. Webster understood the power of words and their usage in maintaining our fragile new republic.

With his desires to lay a foundation for American usage of English words, Dr. Webster took 20 years, utilizing his knowledge of 26 languages and drawing heavily upon his Christian faith and study of the Bible, to create what we know today as the 1828 Webster dictionary.

The power of words is illustrated in scripture:

“…the preaching of the word had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else.” (Alma 31:5)

The words of the prophets should give us the proper understanding of words. The use of language is the key to any society.

Dictionaries give understanding to our words and language and thus should be in alignment with the words of the prophets. Unfortunately, modern dictionaries have been secularized or in other words, God has been taken out of them.

That is not the case with Dr. Webster’s 1828 dictionary. His dictionary defines each word in light of its meaning and usage in the Bible. It reflects the values of our founders.

Here at American Heritage, we use the 1828 Webster dictionary.

Truth comes from one source; we simply recognize that source as we study.