| Historical accounts provide insight into possible | | | | In the Second Federalist Paper, John Jay wrote |
| reasons for particular attitudes toward language | | | | this often-quoted statement: "Providence has |
| diversity in the United States. Researchers such | | | | been pleased to give this one connected country |
| as Heinz Kloss and Marc Schell paint a picture of | | | | to our united people-a people descended from the |
| polyglotism during U.S. history. From pre-Colonial | | | | same ancestors, speaking the same language, |
| times to the dawn of the Republic, there were | | | | professing the same religion, attached to the |
| fewer English speakers than is generally assumed. | | | | same principles of government...." The same |
| Among the inhabitants in the precolonial and | | | | language was assumed to be English. Inexplicably, |
| colonial eras and at the birth of the United States | | | | Jay overlooked the many speakers of other |
| were many speakers of German and of aboriginal | | | | languages living in and around the colonies. |
| and African languages. | | | | The ambivalence that Schmid notes among the |
| Outside of the colonies, there were also speakers | | | | founders has persisted throughout U.S. history and |
| of French and Spanish. Carol Schmid asserts that | | | | has shaped attitudes toward language variation. |
| the founding fathers probably considered language | | | | The struggle between the notion that foreigners |
| an individual matter and did not consider diversity | | | | are an asset to society or, alternatively, a threat |
| to be a problem to the degree it is seen to be | | | | when they attempt to preserve their language |
| today. Newcomers could use a heritage language | | | | and cultural heritage continues to this day. |
| as long as they did not intend to retain the | | | | This ambivalence and the consequent |
| language for a long time. Politically significant | | | | dialectic-rather than language diversity in itself-is at |
| groups, such as the Germans, were | | | | the core of associated dissension and social |
| accommodated in exchange for their loyalty to | | | | division that has been feared throughout U.S. |
| the cause of independence. | | | | history, when newcomers arrive in large numbers |
| In the revolutionary era, federal documents were | | | | and preserve their language and culture in the |
| published in English and in other languages. Schmid | | | | new land. Both have been played out on |
| further points out that the new U.S. Constitution | | | | numerous occasions in many public settings |
| was completely silent on the subject of official | | | | including schools and the workplace, and in the |
| language and language diversity. Though the | | | | media. |
| English and their descendants constituted less than | | | | Although difficult to prove, it may well be that the |
| half of the population at the time of the first | | | | fears connected with language and cultural |
| census, Schmid notes that James Madison made | | | | diversity are what creates problems in the |
| no reference at all to language, culture, or | | | | society, rather than diversity itself. |
| ethnicity in his essays about diversity. | | | | |