A child of the American Revolution, Noah Webster fervently believed in American uniqueness. He also believed that language shapes culture, and the United States needs to have its own collection of language, matching uniquely American habits of grammar, spelling and pronunciation. The legendary wordsmith began working on just such a collection in his 20s.

On this day, April 14, in 1828 Noah Webster published his magnum opus, An American Dictionary of the English Language.

Building on his previous effort, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language, his first truly American dictionary, the newer publication was a complete effort, tracing the origins of some 70,000 of entries across more than 26 languages, including the dead ones of Anglo-Saxon and Sanscrit.