Why isn’t it English by far?
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North America was the colony of many European countries, not just the UK. There were French, Dutch, Spanish, British, and even Russian colonies. But those colonies had relatively small populations compared to the number of immigrants that entered North America from the 1700’s to the 1900’s. At the time of the Revolutionary War, German speaking countries in Europe (there wasn’t a “Germany” until 1871) were divided in their support for the US. But there were many German speaking people in the colonies already. Most, like the Amish, kept out of the war. The German state of Hesse-Cassel famously sent 30,000 troops to support Britain. Many of them decided to remain in the US after the war. The number of German speaking people in the new USA was high enough that on January 13, 1795, Congress considered a proposal, not to give German any official status, but merely to print the federal laws in German as well as English. During the debate, a motion to adjourn failed by one vote.
It is interesting to consider the history of the 20th century had the US become a German speaking country, rather than an English speaking one.
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