I have been told that German almost made it as the official language of the entire USA when the constitution was set up. The legend says it lost to English for a few votes, but that poll apparently didn't take place.
In any case: "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"
The United States has had a lot of German-speaking residents since colonial times, who became United States citizens when the country was founded, but there was never, ever a serious attempt to designate German the national language. Theodore Roosevelt campaigned for the presidency with German-language public speeches (and also French-language public speeches), and my two maternal grandparents, both born in the United States, were educated solely in the German language, but English has always been the main interlanguage among the various ethnic communities living on United States territory.
In any case: "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"
See this: http://www.english.illinois.edu/-people-/faculty/debaron/ess...