Muhlenberg legend
Encyclopedia
The Muhlenberg legend is an urban legend
in the United States
and Germany
. According to the legend, Frederick Muhlenberg
, the first ever Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, kept German
from becoming an official language of the United States. At the heart of this legend is a vote in the United States House of Representatives
in 1794, in which a group of German immigrants asked for the translation of some laws into German. This petition was rejected by a 42 to 41 vote and Muhlenberg was later quoted as having said "the faster the Germans become Americans, the better it will be." The United States has no statutory official language; English has been used as on a de facto basis, owing to its status as the country's predominant language. At times various states have passed their own official language laws.
The same legend also exists with Dutch
instead of German.
Urban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. According to the legend, Frederick Muhlenberg
Frederick Muhlenberg
Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg was an American minister and politician who was the first Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. A delegate and a member of the U.S...
, the first ever Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, kept German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
from becoming an official language of the United States. At the heart of this legend is a vote in the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
in 1794, in which a group of German immigrants asked for the translation of some laws into German. This petition was rejected by a 42 to 41 vote and Muhlenberg was later quoted as having said "the faster the Germans become Americans, the better it will be." The United States has no statutory official language; English has been used as on a de facto basis, owing to its status as the country's predominant language. At times various states have passed their own official language laws.
The same legend also exists with Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
instead of German.
See also
- Frederick MuhlenbergFrederick MuhlenbergFrederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg was an American minister and politician who was the first Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. A delegate and a member of the U.S...
- German in the United StatesGerman in the United StatesAround 1.38 million Americans speak German. It is the second most spoken language in two states: North Dakota and South Dakota.In the United States, German is third in popularity after Spanish and French in terms of the number of colleges and universities offering instruction in the language.-...
- Languages of the United States
External links
- watzmann.net: Urban Legend: German almost became the official language of the US
- Indiana University-Purdue: German or English? The German-Americans
- Bastian SickBastian SickBastian Sick is a German journalist, translator and author.- History :Sick was born in Lübeck in 1965. He studied history and Romance philology, then became a literary editor and later columnist for German news magazine Der Spiegel....
: German as the official language of the USA?