Reflecting on my previous post Language Barriers can be overcome... and the linked New York Times article, I looked a little into the language history of the United States. While English as the defacto national language was an important stepping stone to creating a bond among the immigrants from many nations, the US government, it seems to me, was well advised to stay away from declaring a "national language".
On this topic, Denis Baron's post The Legendary English-Only Vote of 1795 makes fascinating reading.
Interestingly, as of January 2014, 28 of the 50 States have established English as their only "official" language. Only Hawaii has also declared Hawaiian as second official languages (as have several US territories, e.g. Puerto Rico with Spanish as the other official language)
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