A NATIONAL LANGUAGE (Do we have one or not?) We sure do!!!) Article to be posted March 1, 2008

When this country, The United States of America began its legal, financial, military, and governmental structure between the years of 1774 and 1789 there were many meetings of the Continental Congress and especially the Constitutional Convention which met in 1787.

In 1987 I had to meet three Dutch executives in New York on business. During our conversations English came up as a topic as the language of the United States. The chairman of this company related something to me that I never new or was taught in school. He stated at the time the United States was beginning to form politically, financially, militarily and governmentally the population of the country was fairly divided between English speaking and Dutch speaking people and also a few others. He stated which I did not know, that when they voted at the Constitional Convention in 1787, what the language of the United States of America should be, English won over Dutch by only one vote. He joked and said if there were a couple of more Dutch delegates I would probably be speaking Dutch now. If a Dutch executive knows that our national language is English, it behooves me that our own legislators and people in general do not know the same.