Noah Webster (October 16, 1758 – May 28, 1843) was an American lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English spelling reformer, political writer, editor, and prolific author. He has been called the "Father of American Scholarship and Education." His "blue-backed
Speller," his "Grammars," and "Reader," all contained Biblical and patriotic themes and Webster led the production of educational volumes emphasizing Christian Constitutional values for more than a century. "In my view, the Christian religion is the most important
and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed...No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free
people." Webster considered "education useless without the Bible" but he cautioned against too extensive use of the Bible in schools as "tending to irreverence,"