1776 map and "English as the national language"

[underpants]

[BrklynLiberal]

1. No! No! Don't confuse the sheeple with facts!!!!!!!

..and how many of these people screaming for English as a national language had ancestors who arrived here unable to speak English????

[underpants]

3. I changed the subject line

I just wanted to make that clear.

[libnnc]

2. German was spoken here in Winston-Salem, NC

well into the late 1800s.

[BrklynLiberal]

5. The latest National Geographic has an article about a religious colony

in Montana that speaks German.
http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0606/feature5/index.html

[Virginia Dare]

7. Good point, also in many areas of Virginia...n/t

[libnnc]

17. Winston-Salem is the home to one of the oldest pre-revolutionary

era European settlements on the east coast. Old Salem was founded by Moravians from what is now the Czech Republic.

[Rottenmac]

4. Someone needs to take underpants

into the living room and turn on MTV, Xbox, or whatever other handy distraction available.

Maybe Fox news...

:sarcasm:

[underpants]

6. Hey (being dragged off) Hey I was working on something there!!!

:bounce:

I added this to my journal. I don't have time now for a long search-this was the first such map I could find. I know it doesn't really display the language but it does show that our revolution (which I am on record as fully supporting) is not necessarily as it seemed.

[quickesst]

24. Can I...

ask a question, and not offend? Do you believe we would be sitting here, citizens of the United States of America, if these regions would have held fast to their own language and not adopted English as an accepted universal(for them)language? Or would we be citizens of one of three or four countries who are still separated by language barriers? I guess I'm just not getting the relevance of using the history of the US as analogies for todays situation. Those parts of history used for these analogies were just short blips in time that marked the continuing progress of civilization. Maybe it's just me, but I can't help but think a major part of that progress came with the ability of differing cultures to adopt a language all could understand. That language happened to be English. It's a dilemna for me. I feel like, being a democrat, and somewhat a liberal, that I should feel the same as most here seem to do, but my conscience, and my fervent belief in logic dictates otherwise. But hey, it's only one opinion, and those are hard to put to words when the issue has been framed in black and white. Thanks.
quickesst

[underpants]

26. Some answers

Yes we could be different nations. We need to realize that the Spanish and French empires were starting their downward decline so the normal expansion might have ended up with our nation from sea to shining sea anyway.

As far as the analogies-this is a bit of satire with a dash of "F*** YOU!" to the crowd that banks on people not realizing that the Va. Company was not the first European entry into the New World. The settlers of Jamestown* had to basically slip in past the Spanish who ruled the East Coast though they mostly stayed down in the Florida area. The Spanish were in the Tennessee Valley at the time Jamestown was founded ** bringing measles and other Euro based diseases with them.

I hate the implication and purposely place misinformation that is generally taken advantage of in this sort of debate. I do think this issue cuts across party/political lines but the right created this to set up straw men and red herrings-though watching it blow up in their face is quite entertaining to watch.

*-having grown up just down the road from Jamestown we were immersed in stories of the settlers and colonial life throughout school. The funny thing is that "The first permanent English settlement in the New World" has two HUGE qualifiers in it that are glossed over by time --English and permanent. Roanoke Island came before Jamestown and St.Augustine Fla. (later razed by the English) is the first permanent settlement-that I know of- on this continent.

** Spanish in Tenn. Valley.

1540 - DeSoto leads his group of Spaniards in raids of Indian villages in the Tennessee River Valley.
1541 - DeSoto's group explores the Mississippi River.
http://inquiryunlimited.org/timelines/histSpPortAf.html

http://www.virginiaplaces.org/settleland/spanish.html

I can't find the Nat.Geographic article on their archaeological dig in the Tenn. Valley (damn it was a good article)

[annabanana]

13. lol... Welcome to DU..

and watch out how you handle underpants, there friend. :hi:

[Hugin]

8. Dibs on speaking "Unorganized!"

It's the PARTY language!

According to Will, anyway.

[Jackpine Radical]

22. Nice zing.

[leftofthedial]

9. Stop changing the map!

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. For that matter, what was the distribution of Native American languages?

Most of the territory claimed by European countries would have had more speakers of those than English, French or Spanish.

[Hugin]

12. Link to what you seek.

http://www.cogsci.indiana.edu/farg/rehling/nativeAm/ling.html

[BrklynLiberal]

16. cool.

[muriel_volestrangler]

25. Thanks - that's a fascinating page (n/t)

[bryant69]

14. Yeah I had that question when people were talking about the

National Anthem in Spanish - wondering what it would be like to sing it in, say, Cherokee.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[neverforget]

11. history has a liberal bias!

:sarcasm:

[BrklynLiberal]

15. Who lived in the USA?

13 Colonies

1810

1840

[Hugin]

18. Okay... I'll post this here.

[Ravenseye]

21. Terrible map

That map is horrible. It's missing easily 100 different languages that should be on there.

[matcom]

19. .

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Ravenseye]

20. Actually I'd be curious

The English speaking area is the smallest, but had the highest population density. The population density of Louisiana was meager in terms of European speakers, and as far as native speakers there were too many different languages to have a dominate one. Same for the Spanish speaking areas for the most part.

I'd be curious to see a chart of population numbers for different speakers at that time within the space of the contiguous 48 states. This map is akin to looking at the county by county map of the last election as proof that the country is dominately a Bush loving country.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

23. But, Profanity was spoken in all regions.

And, still is. Especially when discussing politics, politicians, or shrink wrap.

[Hosnon]

27. To be fair...it's not 1776. Show that same map in 2006. nt