Trump Signs Executive Order Making English The Official Language. The History On The Lack Of An Official Language

On Saturday, March 1st, President Trump signed an executive order designating English as the official language of the United States. This may shock some who may be under the impression that it was already the official language. The executive order outlines that since our nation's founding, English has been used in historic documents such as the Declaration of Independence. Why hasn't the US designated an official language until now? First, an American history lesson will set the stage.

Since its founding, the United States has been a melting pot of different cultures. Before the British started to colonize, most people understood that various tribes of indigenous peoples claimed this land. These range from well-known tribes like the Cherokee, Navajo, and Sioux to smaller tribes such as the Lenni Lenape, Kickapoo and Meherrin, to name a few. These tribes all had their own language.

Painting by Louis Charles-Auguste Couder "Siege of Yorktown (1781) via the Museum of the American Revolution

Enter the age of European colonization of North America. Americans are taught in schools about the English settlers arriving, the establishment of settlements, and the events leading up to the American Revolution. While it's touched on briefly, Spanish and French settlers also set up camp in North America—regions like Florida and Texas. French colonists set up shop in Canada (in present-day Quebec and Ontario) and Natchitoches, Louisiana in the early 1700s.

Before the Declaration of Independence was signed, this soon-to-be independent country was a melting pot. Enter the mid-to-late 1800s, when the United States had a massive surge of immigrants. These people fled famine and lack of jobs and saw the United States as a land of opportunity. People from Ireland, Italy and Central Europe traveled via boat to find their American Dream. On the west coast, a surge of people from China and Japan start moving to what would become Hawaii and California. At this point, America was a vast mix of cultures and languages.

Fast forward to today, 2% of the entire population of the United States is Native American. That means that 98% of American citizens are descendants of immigrants. That comes with culture, language, religion and cuisine, to name a few things, that have origins outside the United States.

The United States has been and will always be a melting pot of cultures, languages, and other things for hundreds of years. This executive order hurts the people of the United States for a few

reasons.

1. A Citizen's Civil Rights

   In 1964, the Civil Rights Act helped advance bilingual education for the minority youth of our country. "Title VI of the Act is the key by which courts could open the doors of bilingual education by prohibiting discrimination because of "race, color, or national origin." (Candidate, 1993)

2. Voting Rights

   The Voting Rights Act was signed into law in 1965. It made it illegal to assist only in English and prevented those who didn't speak English from being denied their right to vote in elections.

   
   

   

Those two issues are where this executive order could impact. The United States has foregone an official language to foster a diverse population and to avoid discrimination based on someone's race and/or country of origin. Thinking critically here brings up a few issues with this executive order. Questions arise on how this can be weaponized in today's political environment. Will polling stations only carry English on their ballots, excluding the 68 million plus (2019 Census data) that speak other languages and may not be proficient at English? No doubt making English the official language of the United States will hurt minorities. Since this is a fresh order, Americans will see how this affects their everyday lives.

Candidate, J. D. (1993). Does the United States need an official language. IU Robert H. McKinney School of Law. https://mckinneylaw.iu.edu/practice/law-reviews/iiclr/pdf/vol2p433.pdf

Hernandez, S. D. and E. (2022, December 13). Nearly 68 million people spoke a language other than English at home in 2019. Census.gov. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/12/languages-we-speak-in-united-states.html

Featured photo by Photo by Ben Curtis / AP Photo