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Offiziell Sprache des Vereinigten Staaten

The UL is that the US Congress held a vote to make German the official language of the United States and the proposal lost by only one vote. No such vote ever occured, nor was any such proposal ever seriously considered. Like many legends, however, there is some basis in fact. The Virginia legislature once considered a proposal to issue some laws in German as well as in English. This proposal was defeated by one vote, cast by German-speaking Lutheran clergyman Frederick Muhlenberg.

The US has no official language, English is only a de facto standard. In the early days of the republic, several proposals were made to adopt various languages as the official one. Among them were Hebrew, French, Greek, and of course English. None of the proposals were ever seriously considered.

(Thanks to Cindy Kandolf for digging up the truth behind these.)

Debunked: German was once within one or two votes of becoming the official US language

Documented: Hebrew was suggested as a candidate for the official language of the US.

References:

• AFU Archive: German the US Official Language
• Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, by David Crystal, 1987
• The Story of English, by McCrum, Cran, and MacNeil