When and why did spellings in American English start to diverge from spellings in English English?

Question

Color instead of colour, center instead of centre, dramatize instead of dramatise etc

Answer 1

It goes back to the early 19th century and the publication of Noah Webster's dictionary. The new country was anxious to establish it's separate identity from Great Britain so a spelling reform seemed like a good thing to do. Noah Webster actually proposed hundreds of changes in spelling, such as vizion for vision, but only a few of the spelling reforms were actually put into practice, color for colour, theater for theatre, dramatize for dramatise, traveling for travelling.

Answer 2

I reckon that dictionaries didn't appear until well after the colonisation of America, so before they appeared there wasn't a standard written form for either American or British English. Also the American spellings may have reflected an urge to be more logical, as well as trying to be different from the British.

Answer 3

In Britain alone a few hundred years ago depending what part of the country you were from,words were spelt different in diffrent areas,pronounciation usually the same,As in Ryte Wryte Write, wiate,whyte,white,till an official agreed spelling of words were changed , corrected or the most common remained,but words were still having the spellings altered
even a hundred years ago,
Tis too long to get into such detail, But there you go you my Amerykan fhrends.

Answer 4

Because the American peoples are all mongrals made up from many races , many of them could not speak English and were not educated in ENGLISH,
They just spelt the way a word sounded (tire)not tyre and they are still doing it today, But the thing that makes me laugh is that they think that we are wrong and they are right !

Answer 5

because they started to spell words as they were pronounced in a more rational way than English spelling/pronounciation is. Why not write an X when the ct is pronounced X. so direxshun makes sense.

Answer 6

There's a theory that American English has kept the spellings of words that the Pilgrims used when they arrived. I don't know how true that is, but it sounds plausible.

Answer 7

A lot of language is spread word of mouth rather than as written. Over time 'mistakes' or interpretation will add variety - just look at similar names ... they come from the same stock.

Answer 8

Perhaps because the mix of languages over there....maybe it was easier to learn spelt more phonetically? Who knows?! XD

Answer 9

As soon as the Mayflower landed,,,,and people started to get lazy,,,

Answer 10

Because americans are idiots