The man whose name is used generically to mean dictionary contributed not only his famous An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828) toward the education of young Americans in the early days of the republic but also a series of textbooks on subjects from history and geography to astronomy, medicine, and, of course, spelling and grammar. While his name has not been forgotten, his achievements as the first important lexicographer in the United States have over the last century and a half received only mixed reviews. But his impact on Americans' understanding of their language and, more broadly, their attitudes toward education cannot be denied. In his person and through his pedagogical writings Noah Webster set firmly in place in the minds of generations of Americans the image of the authoritarian school master.

Born outside Hartford, Connecticut, on 16 October 1758, Webster was the son of Noah Webster, a Calvinist...