Myth of German nearly becoming the official language of the United States

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The myth of American German

There is a myth that refuses to die and which does crop up from time to time.This is the myth that Americans were at one point close to adopting German as the official language of the United States, supposedly because it was politically neutral and, most importantly, not English. This old wive's tale also claims that this proposal was avoided by the narrow margin of just one single vote.

The story goes something like this: the event allegedly took place in Pennsylvania around the late-1800s and the vote between German and English was a dead heat so, to break the deadlock, the Speaker of the Assembly was given the deciding vote. The Assembly Speaker was Muhlenberg, according to the myth, voted against German, and this is how English remained the language of the United States – except that it's false.

At first, the suggestion that German was ever considered by Americans is laughable, but one it is not that impossible when looking at the facts of the time. The myth makers will often point out that there was a high proportion of people of German origin living in Pennsylvania during this time, which does lend the story some credibility. This part is true. As many as one third of the population in the late 1700s had German links, and most spoke German. But nevertheless, no vote ever took place. German was never in a position to challenge the status of English in America.

Every so often, the myth still manages to crop up in newspaper articles as fact, thus keeping it alive. In fact, the myth was once so pervasive that the US Library of Congress took the step of officially investigating it, and dismissing it. What they did find out, however, is still interesting. They also discovered that an academic scholar, Otto Lohr, made research of his own in 1931 and discovered what is thought to be the most likely source of this myth.

Here are the facts that the myth is based on: On the 9 January 1794, the United States Congress received a petitioned request from a German immigrant who had settled in Virginia, asking for a German translation of national laws be published on his behalf. The petition was brought before the House Committee on the 13 January that same year, and a vote was subsequently made to consider their request. The outcome was a 42 to 41 No-vote. The speaker of the house at the time, was one Frederick Muhlenberg.

The Historical Materials Division of the Library of Congress concluded that – based on Lohr's research – the myth was created by the German–American Bund Association in the 1930s and used as part of its efforts to spread pro-German, Nazi propaganda. The best evidence in support of this theory is that the myth does not pre-date Lohr's original 1931 work. If it really did take place, in 1794, the claim should have surfaced many times over the 140 years that have past.