|> 10. Notwithstanding the multilingual history of the United States, the
|> role of English as our common language has never seriously been questioned.
|
| This is sort of specious. In the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution,
| the Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers, and the Amendments, English is not
| asserted, it is just, for convience, used. Regionally and historically in the
| US the following European languages have also been used officially: Spanish,
| Dutch, French, Russian, Pigeon and even Chinnok Jargon, and scores of Treaty
| texts are written in Native languages. Additionally, this entire text somehow
| overlooks the historical existance of Nativism and the real social roots of
| "English-Only" movements. Eric
I am going to try to find the source about English being "our" common
language never being seriously challenged. In an article in the Boston
Globe about a year ago, references were cited showing regional and local
opposition to the then held attitude of English only in the daily conduct
of government (18th century).
Pat