Myth

Early in the establishment of the United States of America a bill was put forward to make German the official language. This bill was defeated by a single vote.

Reality

This is one urban legend that really has legs, even being cited by American's as genuine fact. The full story goes that in 1795 a bill to establish the official language of the United States as German. But the bill was defeated by a single vote. However, neither the bill nor the vote ever happened.

Unlike other urban legends, this one does in fact have a source. A group of German-Americans from Augusta VA, did petition Congress to have laws published in German. As a response to their petition a House committee recommended publishing three thousand sets of laws in German and English and distributing them. However, when the House debated the proposal on the 13th January 1795 it ended without decision and a vote a later date rejected the proposal 42 to 41 (hence the one vote).

The House also debated translating federal statutes into German on 16 February 1795. The final result was that future federal statutes would be in English only. This bill was approved by the Senate and was signed into law by President George Washington a month later.

Tags: America, Germany, German, language