Noah+Webster+Jr.

Introduction
===“The lexicographer’s business is solely to collect, arrange, and define the words that usage presents to his hands.” – Noah Webster (Lepore). The individual who preached the previous statement is none other than the infamous, Noah Webster Jr. This sole individual defined and virtually created the English language. The random arrangement of sounds and letters we have familiarized with, known as words, were given definition and essentially meaning by Webster. Due to his numerous new and original ideas Webster was forced to find a way prevent others from stealing his ideas. Webster decided to protect his inventions with another original invention that has come to be known as copyright laws (Sheidlower). Amongst defining a whole language and creating many American-firsts, Webster also fought for his country in the revolutionary war (Kendall). As a high ranking member of society Webster was well known and a large influential friend to America’s founding fathers (Sheidlower). This talented man would come to have beneficial ripple effects throughout time, benefiting his country and those around him smart enough to adopt his ideas. ===

Personal Background
===Noah Webster Jr. was born on October 16th, 1758 in West Hartford, Connecticut. Webster’s father is Noah Webster Sr. and his mother’s name is Mercy Webster (Sheidlower). Webster was born into a financially stable family along with three older siblings and one younger sibling. As a child, Webster is credited for being “ladies man” due to the fact that his parents put him into ballet classes occupied by mainly females (Kendall). Since Webster had four siblings, expenses were had to be split between the five children, which lowered the amount of luxuries the Webster family was allowed to have. Because of this, Webster’s father was not willing to pay for anything more than Webster’s education. Noah Webster was forced to fend for himself after graduating from Yale, with a Master’s degree, which likely played a huge role in terms of his determination to invent and create (Sheidlower). Desperate for money, Webster on obtained a job at Hartford as a teacher. Since the pay was lower than his desired amount, Webster quit his teaching job in hopes of finding employment elsewhere as a lawyer. Webster was unsuccessful in his search due to complications created by the revolutionary war (Donelly). === === As a young adult, Webster was well acquainted with the founding fathers of America, and is often referred to as one of the forgotten founding fathers of America (Sheidlower). Since the revolutionary war was occurring simultaneously while Webster was receiving his education at Yale, he was recruited and forced to take part in the Connecticut Militia, a resistance group (Sumberg). Due to the fact Webster was unable to find employment after quitting his teaching job, he focused his attention to literary work. Approximately 3 years after his resignation, he would come to create America’s first dictionary thus solving his money woes (Sheidlower). His vast intelligence and dedication would eventually lead him to invent other things that would make him richer and better known throughout the nation (Kendall). === === Webster was a proud Christian from birth. Webster would go on to marry Rebecca Greenleaf in 1789. The two had an astounding eight children to together. No surprise, Webster named his first male so Noah Webster, thus continuing the three generations of Noah Webster’s in his family (Pritchard). Webster continued to fight for America’s independence from Britain in his later years (Sumberg). He was unable to see the separation in his lifetime, however within a century of his death, his anticipated separation would occur. Webster lived to be 84 and died on May 28, 1843, which was impressive due to the lack of technology and medicinal supplies available at the time. Webster’s biggest impression was his impact on the English language, which he practically helped create (Sheidlower). ===

Personality Traits
===As a child, Noah Webster was considerably a social and active child. Webster was exposed to groups of children similar in age because he was wealthy enough to be put in school and receive an education (Sheidlower). At the time, education was only granted to those who could afford it. Noah Webster developed a less likable reputation as he grew older. Webster grew bitter after not receiving funds from his father, after 18 years, and having to struggle for a source of income (Kendall). People began to refer to him as a snob and condescending. He also obtained the reputation of being socially tone-deaf due to a constant emotionless attitude (Sheidlower). After his inventions and creations became successful, Webster became quite an arrogant individual. However, in the same process, Webster earned attributed hard working Webster and persistent attitude. Others became aware of this when they read an article about him in the newspaper he founded (Sumberg). === === Webster became socially isolated while he was trying to create and invent. During this time he lost friends and gained acquaintances who were only interested in getting a piece of his success (Pritchard). Due to Webster’s intellect and greed, he soon came to create the first copyright laws. Webster rightfully did what was necessary to ensure his success, and was willing to risk losing the few friends he had left (Kendall). Webster was bold when it came down to introducing ideas. As long as there was even the slightest chance of success, Webster was willing to go for it (Sheidlower). Webster also willingly took a break from his previous work to join a militia team in the revolutionary war, to show his patriotism to his country (Kendall). ===

Obstacles
 === Noah Webster was well-known for having a bitter attitude towards others as he grew out of his teen years. Having a bad attitude limits the amount of connections a person may obtain and with Webster’s profession that would be a crippling factor (Sheidlower). Growing up Noah was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder at the age of 7. Over time this eventually led to him socially isolating himself from others (Kendall). After receiving his high school education, Webster’s father decided to no longer supply him with funds. Without a steady source of income Noah decided to find a job as a lexicographer. With the money salvaged from his job and a deal with his father, Webster would go on to attend Yale. Unfortunately, for him however, Noah would be recruited into a militia no more than 2 years into his education (Sheidlower). Once he finally returned home from war, Webster needed a job once again, so he decided to pursue a job as a lawyer (Sumberg). === === Due to the mayhem caused by the still-occurring war, he was unable to find a job as a lawyer. Webster then chose to become a professor at Harvard for literature (Pritchard). Since the pay was too low for his standards, Noah quit and decided to work from home creating and publishing. After approximately a year, Webster had revolutionary ideas like newspapers and dictionaries (Kendall). Because of his lack of friends, Webster had few to zero connections to pitch his ideas to (Sumberg). Webster also decided to create a way to protect his ideas from being stolen by helping establish copyright laws (Pritchard). Amongst having limited source to pitch his ideas, Webster lacked finances thus making it even more difficult to make a profit off of his ideas (Sheidlower). ===



===<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Noah Webster, at the time being, grew up in a considerably wealthy family. Due to his family’s wealth Webster would be able to pay for an education. Webster would go on to be the youngest to study at his college, Yale University (Sheidlower). While he was receiving his education, America was in the midst Revolutionary war. Out of an irrational thought, Webster was recruited into a militia and decided take part in the war (Pritchard). After a period of time Webster needed to find another source of income. He decided to pursue a career as a lawyer because of his background in literature and law. Unfortunately for him, he was unsuccessful in his search (Sheidlower). === ===<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Forced to work from home, he then decided to try and invent or create something that would bring him money. In the process, Webster became worried others might steal his ideas and use them for themselves. He then helped developed the very first copyright and plagiarism laws (Donnelly). Once he established those laws, he felt comfortable continuing with his inventions. Soon after, he would create some of the first school textbooks for children. With Webster’s new found credibility, he began to gain other sources and allies to borrow money for his future ideas. He was now able to focus his ideas toward a much larger audience (Sumberg). After approximately a year passed, Webster developed New York’s first daily newspaper. He began to attract attention from considerably famous people such as George Washington (Kendall). === ===<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">After becoming better acquaintances, Webster would become so influential on George Washington he would be considered a forgotten or honorary Founding Father of America. Webster allegedly helped guide Washington in is his decisions for hiring certain government officials (Pritchard). Later, Webster would come to create the dictionary, his most famous creation. Webster would come to create the first English dictionary. Webster defined the whole English language into a book and marketed it. He was defined the words the best he could, using his own knowledge (Kendall). The name of his dictionary would be known as Webster’s Dictionary. These collections would be continued by one of his descendants, Meriam Webster. Noah Webster’s choices, opinions, and personal views defined and gave meaning to the combination of characters we recognize as “words” (Sheidlower). ===

=== Donnelly, Stephen "The Forgotten Founding Father: Noah Webster's Obsession and the Creation of an American Culture." Historical Journal of Massachusetts 2(2013):136. eLibrary. Web. 08 Jan. 2015. SE #2 === === Kendall, Joshua "The Man Who Defined America." American History. 01 Apr. 2011: 62. eLibrary. Web. 08 Jan. 2015. SE #4 === === Lepore, Jill "NOAH'S MARK ; LIFE AND LETTERS." New Yorker, The. 06 Nov. 2006: 78. eLibrary. Web. 05 Feb. 2015. === === Pritchard, H, William "Webster's First." Weekly Standard. 27 Jun. 2011: 43. eLibrary. Web. 08 Jan. 2015. SE #3 === === Sheidlower, Jesse "Colonial Polymath." New York Times Book Review. 29 May. 2011: 17. eLibrary. Web. 08 Jan. 2015. SE #6 === === Sheidlower, Jesse "Noah Webster, Founding Father." New York Times Book Review. 27 May. 2011: 17. eLibrary. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.SE #1 === === Sumberg, A, Theodore "Forgotten counsellor to the founders." Modern Age 3(2002):281. eLibrary. Web. 08 Jan. 2015.SE #5 ===

[|Flagg, Jared Bradley] (1820-99) (after). //Noah Webster (1758-1843) engraved by Frederick W. Halpin (1805-80)//. 01 Oct. 2004. Bridgeman. //eLibrary//. Web. 01 Apr. 2015. **Image #1** //Noah Webster's House, Dearborn, Michigan//. Archive New Media. 01 Jan. 1996. //eLibrary//. Web. 01 Apr. 2015. **Image #2** //Webster//. Archive New Media. 01 Sep. 1994. //eLibrary//. Web. 01 Apr. 2015. **Image #3**