WI German Rather Than English Was Chosen By Parliament As The US' First Language.

I think English won by 7 votes, had German succeeded could it possibly have influenced the course and outcome of WW1 and WW2? Given that there was a huge German American population, possibly the biggest of all ethnic groups (though the Irish in Ireland are told that it's Irish-Americans), it certainly did not help WW1 Germany or the Nazis!
I wonder would there have been much less Irish going to the States with it being a non-English speaking nation officialy, perhaps they would head to Canada.
Would English be the lingua franca of the world today, in the early 60s it was a close call between English and Spanish, a predominantly German speaking USA would have run them close for the number 1 spot.
Could a German speaking US have grown to become the greatest economic power as easily?
What would the attitude have been to a cold war divided Germany?
Could it have influenced the Civil War at all?
 
I'm not sure what the PoD is meant to be, but in any case the butterflies that would lead to and come from a German-speaking US would likely kill WW1 as we know it, much less WW2 or the Cold War.

- Kelenas
 
If myth it be it has certainly been spread far and wide and why would the national parliament not be the major voice in selecting the national language and it goes even more so for a melting pot nation! German given German speakers' level of immigration to the US could certainly have become the main language spoken there, even if the 7 vote margin is mythical!
 

Philip

Donor
If myth it be it has certainly been spread far and wide

It is certainly a myth. Edit: I see someone beat me to posting a link.

and why would the national parliament not be the major voice in selecting the national language
The issue is not whether or not the Legislature would select a national language. The United States has a Congress, not a parliament. In the US, the Executive is separate from the Legislature.

and it goes even more so for a melting pot nation!
Which, according to Speaker Muhlenberg , is why the laws were not translated into German: "the faster the Germans become Americans, the better it will be." Note that Muhlenberg, the son of a German immigrant, considered speaking English to be an essential facet of being an American.

German given German speakers' level of immigration to the US could certainly have become the main language spoken there,
Not possible. Money and politics too strongly favored the established English speakers.
 
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I thought USA has no "official" language?

But let's follow the Snopes explanation. Assuming that the laws are actually printed in German and English, would German gain some kind of unofficial "second language" status?
 
This is really the most ridiculous myth I've heard about America's founding in awhile (aside from the canard that America is a 'Judeo-Christian' nation). Why would English speakers voluntarily choose German as the 'official language' of a nation that as of 2010 still has no official language? :rolleyes:
 
*sigh*

The vote your myth talks about is badly misconstrued. It was not about "setting an official language", there not being an official language even today, but to provide copies of some government documents in German due to the high amount of immigration you alluded to either. It was about assimilation, essentially. The entrenchment of English as the national language, official or not, meant that the idea of being an American at the time was directly tied to speaking English. The one who cast the deciding vote said that it was better for Germans to become as "American" as quickly as possible and the providing of translated documents would slow that.

Whether you agree with him or not is a completely different issue, but IIRC that was the actual event that tends to get misinterpreted.
 
But WI Deutsch Was The Majoriy Language In America?

Let's forget the myth and assume German became the languge of the majority what then? Also Will Spanish ever become so with Hispanics likely to be the largest ethnic group and what will be the implications of that happening?
 
High levels of German speaking immingrants! Why would this be a bar to having a United States, though maybe not as we know it, Jim!
 
Very little changes. The USA still has the same policy goals, strategic position, etc as ever, and greater cultural barriers than this have been broken down by neccessity (e.g. the Entente.) Besides, it's a myth.
 
Let's forget the myth and assume German became the languge of the majority what then? Also Will Spanish ever become so with Hispanics likely to be the largest ethnic group and what will be the implications of that happening?


And this only hapens through the hand wave of an all-powerful alien or the exhaustive efforts of a determined time traveler. Sorry. Your WI is based on a myth. German was never, w/o a major pre-revolutionary era POD going to become the language of the new USA.
 
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