As the new nation grew and the pioneers settled their new land, the American language developed. Many words were borrowed from the languages of the native Indians to describe natural objects that had no counterparts in England. Examples included the names of animals: raccoon, opossum, and moose. In addition to the Indian words, words were adopted from other languages, such as pretzel, spook, depot, and canyon from German, Dutch, French, and Spanish, respectively. Early American settlers made up words that were added to the language, such as lengthy, calculate, seaboard, bookstore, and presidential. Thomas Jefferson, the drafter of the Declaration of Independence, invented the word belittle, and in his time the words cent and dollar were added to American English.
Over time, differences in pronunciation, spelling, vocabulary, and grammar developed between British and American English. A spirit of independence that followed the American Revolution was accompanied by the desire to form a language that was separate from British English. As a result, Americans such as Benjamin Franklin and Noah Webster made it a personal crusade to reform the American English spelling system. Thus, we now have spelling differences such as color for the British colour, wagon for waggon, defense for defence, honor for honour, theater for theatre, and tire for tyre.
As a champion of American English, Webster attempted to standardize the pronunciation and spelling of American English by writing the first American dictionary. Until then there had been a tendency to spell words as they were spoken, such as "sartinly" (certainly) and "byled" (boiled), and to spell them differently in different regions. Webster's influence helped overcome the inconsistencies of spelling and pronunciation in America.
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