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ENGLISH AND REASONS BEHIND "ENGLISH-ONLY MOVEMENT" In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt stated, "We have room for but one language in this country, and that is the English language, for we intend to see that the crucible turns our people out as Americans, of American Nationality , and not as dwellers in a polyglot boarding house."Roosevelt, Theodore, Works (Memorial ed., 1926), vol. XXIV, p. 554 (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons). 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." us-english.org "Background of organization" 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 Hawaii an 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.1 THE MODERN ENGLISH-ONLY MOVEMENT
CRITICISM The modern English-only movement has met with rejection from the Linguistic Society Of America , which passed a resolution in 1986–87 opposing "'English only' measures on the grounds that they are based on misconceptions about the role of a common language in establishing political unity, and that they are inconsistent with basic American traditions of linguistic tolerance."http://www.lsadc.org/info/lsa-res-english.cfm Linguist Geoffrey Pullum in an essay entitled "Here come the linguistic fascists" charges English First with "hatred and suspicion of aliens and immigrants" and points out that English is far from under threat in the United States, saying "making English the official language of the United States of America is about as urgently called for as making Hotdogs the official food at Baseball games."2 Reprinted in 3 Samuel Francis criticized the modern movement on the grounds that official English laws are, in his words, "ineffective symbolic measures".4 |
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