The “American” in the title does not refer to a distinctive American lexicon

Very few words in the dictionary were not available in both the United States and Britain

The American authors were used as sources for the vocabulary

Some words reflected US culture and institutions, such as congress, caucus, statehouse, and plantation

A great deal of encyclopaedic information, such as names of towns and data on population

Nearly half the words which are included (especially in science and technology) were not to be found in Johnson's Dictionary.

The American Dictionary made Webster a household name in the USA

It rapidly became the authority in matters of spelling, pronunciation, meaning, and usage

It was fiercely attacked in Britain for its Americanism

It gave US English an identity and status comparable to that given to the British English lexicon by Dr Johnson