Preamble-On with Noah Webster
“Preamble-On” is a recurring segment of quotes and thoughts from historic and contemporary public figures on federalism, the free society, and American political life.
But every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country; he should lisp the praise of liberty, and of those illustrious heroes and statesmen, who have wrought a revolution in her favor.
A selection of essays, respecting the settlement and geography of America; the history of the late revolution and of the most remarkable characters and events that distinguished it, and a compendium of the principles of the federal and provincial governments, should be the principal school book in the United States. These are interesting objects to every man; they call home the minds of youth and fix them upon the interests of their own country, and they assist in forming attachments to it, as well as in enlarging the understanding.
—Noah Webster, A Collection of Essays and Fugitiv Writings, 1790.
Context: Noah Webster, considered the father of American education by many, offers a critique of the educational system in post-Revolutionary America. His call for a more practical and patriotic curriculum was rooted in the belief that the survival and flourishing of the American republic depended on an educated citizenry grounded in the principles of liberty and civic responsibility. In his writing, Webster goes on to talk about the importance of students being filled with manners and virtue in school, and proclaims that “the heart should be cultivated with more assiduity than the head.
