This general disposition to subject the slight and fleeting influence of human example and opinions, for the controlling authority of divine commands, is among the most gloomy presages of the present times. Without a great change of public taste … the progress of depravity will be as rapid, as the ultimate loss of morals, of religion, and of civil liberty, is certain. God has provided but one way, by which nations can secure their rights and privileges … by obedience to his laws. Without this, a nation may be great in population, great in wealth, and great in military strength; but it must be corrupt in morals, degraded in character, and distracted with factions. This is the order of God's moral government, as firm as his throne, and unchangeable as his purpose; and nations, disregarding this order, are doomed to incessant internal evils, and ultimately to ruin.

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.