Frederick Muhlenberg

Early life and education

Muhlenberg was born in Trappe, Pennsylvania, the son of Anna Maria (née Weiser) and Heinrich Melchior Mühlenberg. His father, an immigrant from Germany, was considered the founder of the Lutheran Church in North America. His maternal grandfather was Pennsylvania German colonial leader Conrad Weiser. His brother, Peter, was a general in the Continental Army and his brother Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst was a botanist.

In 1763, together with his brothers John Peter Gabriel and Gotthilf Henry Ernst, he attended the Latina at the Franckesche Stiftungen in Halle, Germany. In 1769, he attended the University of Halle, where he studied theology.

Career

On October 25, 1770, Muhlenberg was ordained by the Pennsylvania Ministerium as a minister of the Lutheran Church. He preached in Stouchsburg, Pennsylvania, and Lebanon, Pennsylvania, from 1770 to 1774, and in New York City from 1774 to 1776. When the British Army entered New York at the onset of the American Revolutionary War, he felt obligated to leave, and returned to Pennsylvania. He moved to New Hanover Township, and was a pastor there and in Oley and New Goshenhoppen until August 1779.

Continental Congress

Muhlenberg was a member of the Continental Congress in 1779 and 1780, and served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1780 to 1783. He was elected its speaker on November 3, 1780. He was a delegate to and chairman of the Pennsylvania state constitutional convention in 1787 called to ratify the Federal Constitution. He was the first signer of the Bill of Rights.

U.S. House of Representatives

He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania in the first and the three succeeding United States Congresses (March 4, 1789 – March 4, 1797). Muhlenberg was also the first speaker of the United States House of Representatives. In August 1789, he cast the deciding vote for the location of the nation's new capital. He did not seek renomination as speaker in 1796. On April 29, 1796, as chairman of the Committee of the Whole, he cast the deciding vote for the laws necessary to carry out the Jay Treaty.

In 1794, during Muhlenberg's second tenure as Speaker, the House voted 42–41 against a proposal to translate some of the new country's laws into German. Muhlenberg, who himself abstained from the vote, commented later that "the faster the Germans become Americans, the better it will be." Even though he never cast a vote against the translation bill, a legend developed in which Muhlenberg was responsible for preventing the adoption of German as an official language of the United States.

According to another discredited legend, Muhlenberg also suggested that the title of the president of the United States should be "Mr. President," instead of "His High Mightiness" or "His Elected Majesty," as John Adams had suggested.

Other offices

Muhlenberg was the Federalist candidate in the 1793 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, losing to incumbent Thomas Mifflin.

Muhlenberg was president of the council of censors of Pennsylvania, and was appointed receiver general of the Pennsylvania Land Office on January 8, 1800, serving until his death in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on June 4, 1801.

Personal life

On October 15, 1771, Muhlenberg married Catherine Schaeffer, the daughter of wealthy Philadelphia sugar refiner David Schaeffer. They had seven children.

Death

On June 4, 1801, Muhlenberg died in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, at age 51. He was interred in Woodward Hill Cemetery in Lancaster.

Legacy

• On July 9, 1945, with World War II still ongoing, the S.S. Muhlenberg, named in Muhlenberg's honor, was launched at the Bethlehem Fairfield Shipyard in Baltimore.

References

• Biography and portrait at the University of Pennsylvania

Notes

References

1. "PHMC Frederick A. C. Muhlenberg (1750–1801)".
2. "House Restoration".
3. Minardi, Lisa. "[http://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=272 Frederick Muhlenberg]." In ''Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present'', vol. 1, edited by Marianne S. Wokeck. German Historical Institute. Last modified May 31, 2016.
4. Archiv der [http://192.124.243.55/cgi-bin/gkdb.pl Franckeschen Stiftungen] {{Webarchive. link. (March 3, 2016 , AF St/S B I 94 I, 575–577)
5. "Muhlenberg, Frederick Augustus Conrad – US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives".
6. "Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg 1780–1783".
7. Bomboy, Scott. (April 1, 2019). "Did German almost become America's official language in 1795?".
8. {{EB1911
9. [http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/zwiebelfisch/0,1518,306711,00.html Bastian Sick: ''German as the official language of the USA?'']
10. Powell, J. Mark. (October 15, 2023). "Speaking of the Speaker ...".
11. "PA Governor General Election". OurCampaigns.
12. "Pennsylvania Gubernatorial Election Returns 1793". House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
13. "Frederick Muhlenberg – The Speakers House". The Speakers House.
14. "Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg 1750–1801".