Before the Revolution, most American colonists had tended to think of themselves as British and were often deeply enamored with the culture and fashions of their cousins in London. That shifted after 1783 as many new citizens tried to kick start a distinctively American culture; to give America a national character different and distinctive from the national character of Britain.

In this talk, the group will survey many different ways that these artists and intellectuals tried to declare their cultural independence, before zeroing in on Noah Webster, the Connecticut schoolmaster who spent his life trying to persuade ordinary Americans to rethink their relationship with the British Empire’s mother tongue: the English language.