An attempt to conduct the affairs of a free government with wisdom and impartiality, and to preserve the just rights of all classes of citizens, without the guidance of Divine precepts, will certainly end in disappointment. God is the supreme moral Governor of the world He has made, and as He Himself governs with perfect rectitude, He requires His rational creatures to govern themselves in like manner. If men will not submit to be controlled by His laws, He will punish them by the evils resulting from their own disobedience.…

Webster's Compendious Dictionary of the English Language (1806), a forerunner of An American Dictionary, sparked a war of the dictionaries with rival lexicographer Joseph Worcester. But Worcester's Comprehensive Pronouncing and Explanatory English Dictionary didn't stand a chance. Webster's work, with 5,000 words not included in British dictionaries and with definitions based on the usage of American writers, soon became the recognized authority.