The New England Primer facts for kids
The New England Primer was the first reading primer designed for the American Colonies. It became the most successful educational textbook published in 17th century colonial United States and it became the foundation of most schooling before the 1790s.
In the 17th century, the schoolbooks in use had been Bibles brought over from England. By 1690, Boston publishers were reprinting the English Protestant Tutor under the title of The New England Primer. The Primer included additional material that made it widely popular with colonial schools until it was supplanted by Noah Webster's Blue Back Speller after 1790.
Theology
Many of its selections were drawn from the King James Bible and others were original. It embodied the dominant Puritan attitude and worldview of the day. Among the topics discussed are respect to parental figures, sin, and salvation. Some versions contained the Westminster Shorter Catechism; others contained John Cotton's shorter catechism, known as Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes; and some contained both.
David H. Watters argues that the Primer was built on rote memorization, the Puritans' distrust of uncontrolled speech, and their preoccupation with childhood depravity. By simplifying Calvinist theology the Primer enabled the Puritan child to define the "self" by relating his life to the authority of God and his parents. Emory Elliott argues that the Primer was part of the transformation that turned Puritans away from an angry and wrathful God the Father to the embrace of the gentle and loving Jesus Christ. Both of these notions, of course, reflect modern worldviews and perspectives, and cannot be assumed to speak accurately on behalf of the seventeenth century Puritans.
Contents of the Primer
Two of the most famous example verses are as follows
- Now I lay me down to sleep,
- I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep;
- If I should die before I wake,
- I pray thee, Lord, my soul to take.
—1784 ed.
- In Adam's Fall,
- we sinned all.
The text for L is alluded to in Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: . . . "like the lion bold, which whilom so magnanimously the lamb did hold" ...
Editions and reprints
There have been many reprints of The New England Primer.
- New England Primer: Improved for the More Easy Attaining the True Reading of English: To Which Is Added the Assembly of Divines, and Mr. Cotton's Catechism (1991, WallBuilders; note that this is the 1777 edition). ISBN: 0-925279-17-X
- New England Primer: 1996, A Family & Homeschool Textbook. The 1843 Updated Edition with Lesson Plan. (© 1996, Richard E. Klenk Sr.; ISBN: 0-9648958-0-3) A book, orig. a prayer book, used in teaching children to read or spell; hence, an elementary textbook.
