The First English Language Bible Published in North America 

The war with Britain cut off the supply of Bibles to the American colonies with the result that Congress instructed its Committee of Commerce to import 20,000 Bibles from “Scotland, Holland, or elsewhere.”

On January 21, 1781, Philadelphia printer Robert Aitken (1734–1802) petitioned Congress to officially sanction a publication of the Old and New Testament that he was preparing at his own expense. Congress passed a resolution endorsing Aitken’s Bible.

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