# Law 1700's **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 14, 2013, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-1700s/650289 "2013-02-14T16:10:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kbutler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@kbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kbutler)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-1700s/650289/1 "2013-02-14T16:10:04Z")
Can anyone help me out? I am doing a report, and I remember learning about this in high school, but I cannot remember exactly and I need this informaiton. I am looking for the law that was passed in the 1700’s about the language being English for the USA, because it was costing the fed. gov. more to employee a teacher of each race/nationality to teach all the students. So the gov. passed a bill saying that all would learn English, and that English would be the language of the USA.🙂 Thanks Kbutler ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-1700s/650289/2 "2013-02-14T16:11:40Z")
Such a law was never passed. There was no compulsory public education in the 1700s, for one thing. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-1700s/650289/3 "2013-02-14T16:18:56Z")
And the federal government does not hire school teachers. (Except for military bases and stuff.) ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@Bob\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_X)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-1700s/650289/4 "2013-02-14T16:27:04Z")
This is a more elaborate version of a meme that usually spreads by chain e-mails. The true story which is usually used as the “seed” around which to pile on the elaborations is this: in 1794 the first Congress was petitioned to publish the laws in German as well as English for the benefit of the many German immigrants at that time; Speaker of the House Muhlenberg, a German-American himself, opposed this for reasons of cost, so the motion failed by one vote. This gets turned into “English was voted the official language of the US by one vote” although that is not quite what was going on. > **[Coming Up: German Americans in Congress](https://uschs.wordpress.com/2011/09/12/coming-up-german-americans-in-congress-2/)** > > USCHS is partnering with the German American Heritage Museum to produce an exhibit exploring German Americans’ service in Congress. The exhibit will premiere on Capitol Hill in October, but as a sn… is a succinct explanation. ---
**Author:** ![Ace309](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ace309/32/1050_2.png) [@Ace309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace309)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-1700s/650289/5 "2013-02-14T16:27:52Z")
Is it possible you’re thinking of one of the late-1800s resolutions in e.g. Hawaii or Puerto Rico referenced [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-only_movement)? There isn’t much information in the link, but the “official language of the school room” reference for Puerto Rico sounds like it might be what you’re thinking of. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-1700s/650289/6 "2013-02-14T16:28:29Z")
There are all kinds of problems with the statement. Others beat me to a couple of them but the U.S. still has never had a true official language. There is a related urban legend that has floated around for a long time that claims that German almost became the official language in the U.S. in the late 1700’s but lost out to English by one single vote in Congress. It isn’t true either. The only such law ever debated was a mundane one requiring some federal documents to be translated into German as well as English because there were so many German speaking immigrants in the U.S. at the time. They decided English only was good enough for that purpose. > **[German Almost Became Official Language](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-german-vote/)** > > Did one vote defeat a proposal to make German the official language of the United States? ---
**Author:** ![FrankJBN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@FrankJBN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrankJBN)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-1700s/650289/7 "2013-02-14T20:00:59Z")
C’mon guys - there’s only a total of 7 posts here. Maybe read whats’s already been said. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-1700s/650289/8 "2013-02-14T20:06:22Z")
> [@FrankJBN](#): > > C’mon guys - there’s only a total of 7 posts here. Maybe read whats’s already been said. What are you referring to? Three of us posted at the same time. There is some overlap in content but it wasn’t there when we were writing it. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-1700s/650289/9 "2013-02-15T02:20:42Z")
> [@FrankJBN](#): > > Maybe read whats’s already been said. What strange doctrine speaks the man! ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-1700s/650289/10 "2013-02-15T02:32:38Z")
> [@kbutler](#): > > Can anyone help me out? I am doing a report, and I remember learning about this in high school, but I cannot remember exactly and I need this informaiton. I am looking for the law that was passed in the 1700’s about the language being English for the USA, because it was costing the fed. gov. more to employee a teacher of each race/nationality to teach all the students. So the gov. passed a bill saying that all would learn English, and that English would be the language of the USA.🙂 > Thanks > Kbutler Is this homework of some sort?