Many proposals have been made to change the system of English orthography with the aim of making it more consistent and closer to the spoken language. Common motives for spelling reform include making
Noah Webster's reforms to American spelling are the most successful to date.
President Theodore Roosevelt was criticized for supporting the simplified spelling campaign of Andrew Carnegie in 1906.
The epitaph on the grave of William Shakespeare spells friend as frend.
Noah Webster
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Noah Webster was an American lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English-language spelling reformer, political writer, editor, and author. He has been called the "Father of American Scholarship and Educa
English-language spelling reform
…an immediate and total reform for all. Some spelling reform proposals have been adopted partially or temporarily. Many of the spellings preferred by Noah Webster have become standard in the United States, but have not been adopted elsewhere (see American and British English spelling differences). Modern English…
Portrait by James Herring, 1833
Webster's home in New Haven, Connecticut, where he wrote An American Dictionary of the English Language; the home was later relocated to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan.
Webster's wife, Rebecca Greenleaf Webster