aThis is microhistory at its best. Baer has selected a single event
and brilliantly used it to explore the larger culture and society
of the time. With great clarity and insight Baer has investigated
multicultural issues of language and the assimilation of immigrants
that are as relevant for us today as they were to Americans two
centuries ago. This is a very important and timely book.a
--Gordon S. Wood, Brown University
In the summer of 1816, the state of Pennsylvania tried
fifty-nine German-Americans on charges of conspiracy and rioting.
The accused had, according to the indictment, conspired to prevent
with physical force the introduction of the English language into
the largest German church in North America, Philadelphiaas Lutheran
congregation of St. Michaelas and Zion. The trial marked the climax
of an increasingly violent conflict over language choice in
Philadelphiaas German community, with members bitterly divided into
those who favored the exclusive use of German in their church, and
those who preferred occasional services in English. At trial,
witnesses, lawyers, defendants, and the judge explicitly linked
language to class, citizenship, patriotism, religion, and
violence.
Mining many previously unexamined sources, including
German-language writings, witness testimonies, and the opinions of
prominent legal professionals, Friederike Baer uses legal conflict
as a prism through which to explore the significance of language in
the early American republic. The Trial of Frederick Eberle reminds
us that debates over language have always been about far more than
just language. Baer demonstrates that the 1816 trial was not a
battle between Americans and immigrants, orGerman-speakers and
English-speakers. Instead, the individuals involved in the case
seized and exploited English and German as powerful symbols of
competing cultural, economic, and social interests.
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