Greetings, I've been intrigued by the comments that German almost became the official language of the U.S. -- that a vote was taken that failed by one vote -- that the signers of the Declaration of Independence required or directed that the Declaration be printed in German. Desiring some documentation for this, I searched the 'net and have read several accounts of the origin of this idea. The first two sites listed below, when combined, seem to provide a detailed account. However, one can not see the first site as completely unbiased. It is the site of U.S. English, the organization founded by S.I. Hayakawa in the early 1980's to promote English as the common official language of the U.S. Given that awareness, I would still recommend it. http://www.usenglish.org/foundation/issues/german.asp http://german.about.com/library/weekly/aa010820b.htm Other sites that discuss this topic: http://german.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http:// www.watzmann.net/scg/german%252Dby%252Done%252Dvote.html http://german.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www% 2Dlib.iupui.edu/kade/adams/chap7.html Richard

Hello, According to information at http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=m001063 Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg, while born in the US of parents who immigrated, studied theology at the University of Halle in Germany and served as a pastor, like his father and brothers, before entering the political arena. While what is written in the "german.about ..." site telling the legend of Muhlenberg's casting the deciding vote against German becoming the official language, there follows a statement apart from the legend reference, "despite his [Muhlenberg] background he apparently spoke little German himself. Given his family, pastoral and academic background I doubt the veracity of that. He may have used English more as his political career advanced but I bet German was certainly his mother tongue and that he remained fluent. Gloria Ishida On 1 29, 2008, at 1:28 PM, RAM wrote: > Greetings, > > I've been intrigued by the comments that German almost became the > official language of the U.S. -- that a vote was taken that failed by > one vote -- that the signers of the Declaration of Independence > required or directed that the Declaration be printed in German. > > Desiring some documentation for this, I searched the 'net and have > read several accounts of the origin of this idea. The first two sites > listed below, when combined, seem to provide a detailed account. > > However, one can not see the first site as completely unbiased. It > is the site of U.S. English, the organization founded by S.I. > Hayakawa in the early 1980's to promote English as the common > official language of the U.S. Given that awareness, I would still > recommend it. > > > http://www.usenglish.org/foundation/issues/german.asp > > http://german.about.com/library/weekly/aa010820b.htm > > > Other sites that discuss this topic: > > > http://german.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http:// > www.watzmann.net/scg/german%252Dby%252Done%252Dvote.html > > http://german.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www% > 2Dlib.iupui.edu/kade/adams/chap7.html > > > > > Richard > -- > Resources for Alsace-Lorraine list members: > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~valorie/Alsace-Lorraine-L.htm > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ALSACE-LORRAINE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > Domaine de Curé Luxury Gîtes (vacation apartments) in centuries old farmhouse near Carcassonne, France Jean-Noël Ishida and Agathe Moréchand-Ishida http://www.domaine-cure.com/