'Foundation of all free government'

“To the Friends of Literature in the United States,’’ Webster's prospectus for his first dictionary of the English language, 1807–1808

“The foundation of all free government and all social order must be laid in families and in the discipline of youth. Young persons must not only be furnished with knowledge, but they must be accustomed to subordination and subjected to the authority and influence of good principles. It will avail little that youths are made to understand truth and correct principles, unless they are accustomed to submit to be governed by them.”

― Noah Webster. (1758-1843) an American lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English-language spelling reformer, political writer, editor and prolific author. Webster's name has become synonymous with "dictionary" in the United States, especially the modern Merriam-Webster dictionary that was first published in 1828 as A Dictionary of the English Language. He was born in Hartford and died in New Haven. He’s an example of the New England enthusiasm for education that goes back to Puritan times.

A 1932 statue of Webster by Korczak Ziółkowski stands in front of the public library of West Hartford, Conn.

Title page of Webster's Dictionary of the English Language, c. 1830–1840