Frederick Muhlenberg
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Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg (January 1, 1750 – June 4, 1801), was an American minister and politician who was the first Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. A Delegate and a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania and a Lutheran pastor by profession, Muhlenberg was born in Trappe, Pennsylvania.
According to an urban legend, Muhlenberg as House Speaker prevented German from becoming the official language of the United States.[1][2]
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[edit] Early life and ministerial career
Frederick Muhlenberg was the son of Henry Muhlenberg, an immigrant from Germany and considered the founder of the Lutheran Church in America. His brother, Peter, was a General in the Continental Army. Muhlenberg was born in Trappe, Pennsylvania.
He attended the University of Halle, Germany, where he studied theology, and was ordained by the Pennsylvania Ministerium as a minister of the Lutheran Church on October 25, 1770. He preached in Stouchsburg, Pennsylvania, and Lebanon, Pennsylvania, from 1770 - 1774, and in New York City from 1774 - 1776. When the British entered New York at the onset of the American Revolutionary War, he felt obliged to leave, and returned to Trappe. He moved to New Hanover Township, Pennsylvania, and was pastor there and in Oley and New Goshenhoppen until August 1779.
[edit] Political career
Muhlenberg was a member of the Continental Congress in 1779 and 1780, and served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1780 to 1783 and was elected its speaker on November 3, 1780. He was a delegate to and president of the State constitutional convention in 1787 called to ratify the Federal Constitution. He was the first signer of the "Bill of Rights".
Elected to the First and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1789–March 4, 1797), Muhlenberg was the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives for the First Congress (1789-1791) and Third Congress (1793-1795). He did not seek renomination in 1796.
During Muhlenberg's second tenure as speaker, the House voted 42-41 in 1794 against a proposal to translate some of the laws into German. Muhlenberg, who himself abstained from the vote, commented later, "the faster the Germans become Americans, the better it will be."[1] Despite not even voting for the bill, an urban legend called the Muhlenberg legend was started, stating that he was responsible for not letting German become an official language of the United States.[1]
Muhlenberg was also president of the council of censors of Pennsylvania, and was appointed receiver general of the Pennsylvania Land Office on January 8, 1800, and served until his death in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on June 4, 1801. He was interred in Woodward Hill Cemetery there. After his death, the Township of Muhlenberg, Pennsylvania, was named for him.
In World War II the United States liberty ship SS F. A. C. Muhlenberg was named in his honor.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Frederick Muhlenberg at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Biography and portrait at the University of Pennsylvania
[edit] Notes
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