Noah Webster's goal in life was to promote the adoption of an American language . He wanted to free Americans from British English as they had freed themselves from the British crown . To this end he published a series of three textbooks : a speller in 1783 , a grammar in 1784 , and a reader in 1785 .
Webster objected to the way certain words had been borrowed from other languages but had not been respelled . The results , he claimed , was a confusing mixture of letters , many of which were not pronounced the way they looked , and other of which were not pronounced at all .
Webster urged Americans to simplify their spelling . For example , he argued that "head" should be spelled “hed” and “bread” should be spelled “bred” . Most of Webster's suggestions did not catch on , but his textbooks sold millions of copies .