English Only

English-only movement, called also Official English movement by its supporters, refers to a political movement for the use only of English language in public occasions through the establishing of English as the explicitly only official language in the United States. more...

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There have been various unrelated incarnations of the movement throughout United States history.

English and reasons behind "English-only movement"

President Theodore Roosevelt stated, "We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

U.S. English, an advocate group for "Official English" summarizes their belief that "the passage of English as the official language will help to expand opportunities for immigrants to learn and speak English, the single greatest empowering tool that immigrants must have to succeed."

Earlier English-only movements

In 1803, as a result of the Louisiana Purchase, the United States acquired French-speaking populations in Louisiana. After the Mexican-American War, the United States acquired about 75,000 Spanish speakers in addition to several indigenous language-speaking populations.

An 1847 law authorized Anglo-French instruction in public schools in Louisiana. In 1849, the California constitution recognized Spanish language rights.

French language rights were abolished after the American Civil War. In 1868, the Indian Peace Commission recommended English-only schooling for the Native Americans. In 1878–79, the California constitution was rewritten: "All laws of the State of California, and all official writings, and the executive, legislative, and judicial proceedings shall be conducted, preserved, and published in no other than the English language."

In the late 1880s, Wisconsin and Illinois passed English-only instruction laws for both public and parochial schools.

In 1896, under the Republic of Hawaii government, English became the sole medium of public schooling for Hawaiian children. After the Spanish-American War, English was declared "the official language of the school room" in Puerto Rico. In the same way, English was declared the official language in the Philippines, after the Philippine-American War.

During World War I, there was a widespread campaign against the use of the German language in the U.S. including removing books in the German language from libraries.

The modern English-only movement

1980: Dade County, Florida, voters approved an "anti-bilingual ordinance."; 1981: English was declared the official language in the state of Virginia.; 1983: Dr. John Tanton and Senator S. I. Hayakawa founded a political lobbying organization, U.S. English. (Tanton was a former head of the Sierra Club's population committee and of Zero Population Growth, and founder of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), an immigration reductionist group.); 1986

Tanton wrote a memo containing remarks about Hispanics claimed by critics to be derogatory, which appeared in the Arizona Republic newspaper, leading to the resignations from U.S. English of board member Walter Cronkite and executive director Linda Chavez; Tanton would also sever his ties to the organization as a result.; Larry Pratt founded English First, while Lou Zaeske established the American Ethnic Coalition.;

Read more at Wikipedia.org