Did the official language of USA nearly became German?

Answer 1

Yes. A meeting was held at Philladelphia to decide the issue of which language, English or German, would become the official language of the newly independant USA. The vote cast was 50/50 but the chairman of the meeting, a German, used his casting vote in favour of English.

English and German were both popular languages during the 18th century, here in England and also in the American Colonies. After all, HM King Geo III was a Kraut and so too were lots of his chums.

Answer 2

There was a story but it is more likely that the areas containing Germans wanted legal and political documents translating into German and there was around 10% of the population that was German. Remember that New York was originally called New Amsterdam (Netherlands is next to Germany). Many town names in the east are clearly German, the churches and the Lutheran/Protestant traditions are also well known.

I can't remember when the vote on stabilizing the language was, sorry.

The links with Germany continued into the 20th century, with Congress voting against actions that would be harmful to Germany in the early stages of the 1914-18 war and there was considerable economic aid provided by Wall St to the Nazis during the 1930's and even into the 1940's. Some of the money earned is still being used to pay for some of the politicians in power at the moment (now family money).

There was also a strong German presence in Hollywood (look at the names of directors/ producers during up to 1950).

Answer 3

No way, no how. This is a total urban legend. As one answer suggested, there WAS legislation considered--never passed-- that may have contributed to this misunderstanding. But that was only about providing a German language TRANSLATION of official documents, NEVER about the nation's official language.

In actual legal fact, the USA has NEVER voted on the matter of an "official language" for the nation.

For more info debunking the myth, see :
http://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/german.htm
_______________________

If that isn't enough -- it really would have made no sense for any language BUT English to be the working language for the new country (as it was for the colonies).

Why? To begin with, the 13 colonies were all BRITISH colonies, under British government (so that government affairs, the courts, etc., would have conducted business in ENGLISH) and in EACH of them the dominant group was British. In New England the colonists were overwhelmingly English or Welsh. Yes, there were significant pockets of Germans, some Dutch, French, etc. but NONE of these groups offered serious competition to English.

Here's a chart of the overall breakdown:
English 48.7 %
African 20.0 %
Scot-Irish 7.8 %
German 6.9 %
Scottish 6.6 %
Dutch 2.7 %
French 1.4 %
Swedish0.6 %
Other 5.3 %

Add the British groups together and you get 63.1%. Further, if you discount the Africans from the total (who would certainly have been in no position to impose their languages) you are left with 16.9% non-British. In other words, about 75% of the white population was British, and most of that from England. Even if were not all under British rule, there would have been NO contest!

Specifically on German -- note that German was the largest non-English speaking European group, but even they were a fraction of the size of the English population. It would have been absurd for the nation to decide to conduct its business in German!

Here's a source for the statistics above:
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/us6.cfm

Answer 4

I've heard a lot about this, and I'm convinced that it could have been. At the time of the American Revolution, the ruling dynasty in England was the Hanoverian Dynasty (George 1-4) so German became spoken throughout many parts of England, and it seems natural that England's German holdings would have sent a large number of colonists over to the New World as well. Added on is the large number of German mercenaries which were employed by the British in the French and Indian War and The American Revolution; many of whom decided to remain in the New World following the conflicts.
I've heard that the vote for the national language was English by one vote...I'm guessing that it was a decision of the early Continental Congress or the Electoral College.

Answer 5

YES. don't listen to the illiterates above. the vast majority of early immigrants to america were not british, but were german. even today, of all european descendants in america, the majority are german. woodrow wilson could not get america to join in WWI because german americans refused to fight against germany who had not attacked us. wilson had to create an attack with the lusitania to get us into the war. german was seriously considered to be americas official language, but english won out

Answer 6

No, but many people think so (especially in Germany), because of the "Muhlenberg legend".

For further details see here:

Answer 7

nope it was english. For a while it was questionable after the French and Indian War. If the french would have won we would be speaking French but that was not the case.

Answer 8

Look up World War II, all of it. My Grandfather, and many other men, fought bravely in this war. It would be good for you to have a basic understanding of what went on.

Answer 9

no, i dont think so. if another language other than english ever nearly took over usa, it probably would have been spanish, since spain owned a lot of land of the usa back then