The Forgotten Founding Father: Noah Webster’s Obsession and
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The Forgotten Founding Father: Noah Webster’s Obsession and
Joshua Kendall. The Forgotten Founding Father: Noah Webster’s Obsession and the Creation of an American Culture. New York, NY: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2010. 355 pages. $26.95 (hardcover).
The title of this book is intriguing and drove me to it. Everyone associates Webster with the dictionary, but few can recall anything else about the man. Many confuse him with his famous cousin Daniel, and perhaps attribute some of his accomplishments to Noah. A majority of people would never consider Noah Webster to be a Founding Father, nor could they name a single accomplishment of his not related to the dictionary. And yet he was a primary figure in many of the major dramas unfolding at the time. He was a friend and ally of Franklin and Washington, a chief player in the mudslinging newspaper wars, and a marketing genius who pioneered techniques in use on Madison Avenue to this day. This fascinating and entertaining volume goes a long way toward rectifying these omissions. It provides a fresh window to the times through the eyes of a previously ignored actor. And it dispels the reader’s apprehension that reading a book about the compilation of a dictionary would be as dry and boring as the actual act of compilation itself.
The story of Noah Webster documents the path of a driven intellectual with an intense desire to succeed and leave a permanent mark for posterity. The hidden darkness associated with this drive shows an obsessive compulsive man striving always to keep his depression and demons in check with constant activity and accomplishment. To relax and stop compiling or writing would invite his mental illness to take control. Noah Webster must always strive to be great for fear that if he wasn’t he would be less than nothing. His deep seated social anxiety drove him towards public speaking as a way to compensate and conquer rather than give in and hide. It also tinged much of his speaking and writing with an arrogance and assumption of superiority that provided a bounty of targets for his critics. His talent was also his curse, but for the most part his talent won out, which is the story of his life and this book.
Few people realize that well before Webster authored his defining masterpiece he was already world famous for producing the essential American Speller. For decade this volume stood second only to the bible in domestic sales. It was the standard that generations of American students learned from. It sold millions of copies during and after his lifetime. This achievement would have made him extremely wealthy if his financial situation at the time had not dictated that he sell his rights outright in lieu of collecting future royalties. Even so, the amount he garnered for those rights made him the recipient of the first American blockbuster book deal. The story of the speller involves much more than its’ compilation and publication. Webster promoted and fought tenaciously for laws designed to protect his intellectual property, thus becoming the Father of American Copyright Law. His book featured American, not British spelling, and he was a leading proponent of a separate American language and culture. He was one of the earliest and most prominent proponents of American Exceptionalism, long before the term was coined. In this endeavor he was an ally of, and the intellectual heir to his good friend Benjamin Franklin. Additionally, Webster pioneered a number of marketing initiatives still in use today. He originated the first national book tours by an author to promote sales, becoming the first native born celebrity speaker in the process. He placed advertisements and wrote anonymous articles promoting his book in major publications. He offered bulk discounts to schools and helped to popularize a new form of emerging entertainment, the spelling bee, further increasing sales.
Webster’s marketing efforts involved intense self-promotion combined with outright public attacks upon literary critics. A negative review would invite retaliatory abuse from the author, occasionally erupting into a multi-article exchange between author and critic. Webster, for all his genius, was a thin skinned man with a talent for vituperation, and critics often found themselves the target of a skilled and talented adversary. These attacks of course fueled further criticism which in turn increased publicity and drove sales ever higher.
Webster’s talent for written promotion was not limited to mere self. Well before the Federalist Papers were conceived he rushed into print with articles praising the new constitution which garnered wide praise from supporters including George Washington. He was an early champion of abolition, and a best-selling author in England and America. Washington himself asked Webster to publish the first daily newspaper in New York City to counteract the growing influence of Citizen Genet and the Francophiles who were promoting open alliance with France and war with Great Britain. He was a prominent participant in the newspaper battles of the time, crossing swords with Hamilton (first an as an ally, later as antagonist), Madison, and Jefferson (who declined direct combat, preferring to stay behind the scenes in favor of his allies).
Webster’s obsessive nature also drove him to compile many useful statistics. During his extensive travels he always found time to compile a count and itemization of all of the houses of every city he visited, no matter the size. Before the first government censuses were published these observations were extremely useful at the time and for subsequent posterity. Webster also queried doctors from multiple cities concerning the scourge of yellow fever, initiating the world’s first scientific survey. Ironically, his conclusion that filth and open sewage was the principle cause of disease was correct for almost all diseases except yellow fever, where the primary culprit, the mosquito, was not discovered for generations.
Other accomplishments of Noah Webster include; founder of the Hartford Charitable Society, a founder of Amherst College, a Massachusetts state representative, and a proponent of the Hartford Convention against the War of 1812.
The signal achievement of Webster’s life was his massive compilation of the Dictionary of the American language. The man spent twenty-seven obsessive-compulsive years producing his life’s work which has forever since been associated with his name. This labor of love kept him sane (although sometimes just barely) and won him the contemporary plaudits that he so craved in life. He is justly immortal for this crowning work, but as this highly readable and fascinating biography illustrates, he should be known for so much more.
Stephen Donnelly is a consultant for the insurance industry and a Westfield State University alumnus.
The title of this book is intriguing and drove me to it. Everyone associates Webster with the dictionary, but few can recall anything else about the man. Many confuse him with his famous cousin Daniel, and perhaps attribute some of his accomplishments to Noah. A majority of people would never consider Noah Webster to be a Founding Father, nor could they name a single accomplishment of his not related to the dictionary. And yet he was a primary figure in many of the major dramas unfolding at the time. He was a friend and ally of Franklin and Washington, a chief player in the mudslinging newspaper wars, and a marketing genius who pioneered techniques in use on Madison Avenue to this day. This fascinating and entertaining volume goes a long way toward rectifying these omissions. It provides a fresh window to the times through the eyes of a previously ignored actor. And it dispels the reader’s apprehension that reading a book about the compilation of a dictionary would be as dry and boring as the actual act of compilation itself.
The story of Noah Webster documents the path of a driven intellectual with an intense desire to succeed and leave a permanent mark for posterity. The hidden darkness associated with this drive shows an obsessive compulsive man striving always to keep his depression and demons in check with constant activity and accomplishment. To relax and stop compiling or writing would invite his mental illness to take control. Noah Webster must always strive to be great for fear that if he wasn’t he would be less than nothing. His deep seated social anxiety drove him towards public speaking as a way to compensate and conquer rather than give in and hide. It also tinged much of his speaking and writing with an arrogance and assumption of superiority that provided a bounty of targets for his critics. His talent was also his curse, but for the most part his talent won out, which is the story of his life and this book.
Few people realize that well before Webster authored his defining masterpiece he was already world famous for producing the essential American Speller. For decade this volume stood second only to the bible in domestic sales. It was the standard that generations of American students learned from. It sold millions of copies during and after his lifetime. This achievement would have made him extremely wealthy if his financial situation at the time had not dictated that he sell his rights outright in lieu of collecting future royalties. Even so, the amount he garnered for those rights made him the recipient of the first American blockbuster book deal. The story of the speller involves much more than its’ compilation and publication. Webster promoted and fought tenaciously for laws designed to protect his intellectual property, thus becoming the Father of American Copyright Law. His book featured American, not British spelling, and he was a leading proponent of a separate American language and culture. He was one of the earliest and most prominent proponents of American Exceptionalism, long before the term was coined. In this endeavor he was an ally of, and the intellectual heir to his good friend Benjamin Franklin. Additionally, Webster pioneered a number of marketing initiatives still in use today. He originated the first national book tours by an author to promote sales, becoming the first native born celebrity speaker in the process. He placed advertisements and wrote anonymous articles promoting his book in major publications. He offered bulk discounts to schools and helped to popularize a new form of emerging entertainment, the spelling bee, further increasing sales.
Webster’s marketing efforts involved intense self-promotion combined with outright public attacks upon literary critics. A negative review would invite retaliatory abuse from the author, occasionally erupting into a multi-article exchange between author and critic. Webster, for all his genius, was a thin skinned man with a talent for vituperation, and critics often found themselves the target of a skilled and talented adversary. These attacks of course fueled further criticism which in turn increased publicity and drove sales ever higher.
Webster’s talent for written promotion was not limited to mere self. Well before the Federalist Papers were conceived he rushed into print with articles praising the new constitution which garnered wide praise from supporters including George Washington. He was an early champion of abolition, and a best-selling author in England and America. Washington himself asked Webster to publish the first daily newspaper in New York City to counteract the growing influence of Citizen Genet and the Francophiles who were promoting open alliance with France and war with Great Britain. He was a prominent participant in the newspaper battles of the time, crossing swords with Hamilton (first an as an ally, later as antagonist), Madison, and Jefferson (who declined direct combat, preferring to stay behind the scenes in favor of his allies).
Webster’s obsessive nature also drove him to compile many useful statistics. During his extensive travels he always found time to compile a count and itemization of all of the houses of every city he visited, no matter the size. Before the first government censuses were published these observations were extremely useful at the time and for subsequent posterity. Webster also queried doctors from multiple cities concerning the scourge of yellow fever, initiating the world’s first scientific survey. Ironically, his conclusion that filth and open sewage was the principle cause of disease was correct for almost all diseases except yellow fever, where the primary culprit, the mosquito, was not discovered for generations.
Other accomplishments of Noah Webster include; founder of the Hartford Charitable Society, a founder of Amherst College, a Massachusetts state representative, and a proponent of the Hartford Convention against the War of 1812.
The signal achievement of Webster’s life was his massive compilation of the Dictionary of the American language. The man spent twenty-seven obsessive-compulsive years producing his life’s work which has forever since been associated with his name. This labor of love kept him sane (although sometimes just barely) and won him the contemporary plaudits that he so craved in life. He is justly immortal for this crowning work, but as this highly readable and fascinating biography illustrates, he should be known for so much more.
Stephen Donnelly is a consultant for the insurance industry and a Westfield State University alumnus.
