To quote H.L. Mencken, Webster was "not only a pedagogue, but... a foe of democracy". Supposedly cheerless and arrogant. Published a very popular spelling primer, of which 80 million copies were printed; Webster saw none of the profits. He published a censored Bible, in which (among other things) Onan was removed; never got popular. He stole work from nearly everyone to compile a not-very-well-respected dictionary, and became an American institution.