Frederick Muhlenberg

Frederick Muhlenberg
Frederick Muhlenberg
1st Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
	In office; December 2, 1793 – March 4, 1795
Preceded by	Jonathan Trumbull Jr.
Succeeded by	Jonathan Dayton
	In office; April 1, 1789 – March 4, 1791
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Jonathan Trumbull Jr.
1st Dean of the United States House of Representatives
	In office; March 4, 1789 – March 4, 1797
Preceded by	Title established
Succeeded by	Thomas Hartley; George Thatcher
Member of the; U.S. House of Representatives; from Pennsylvania
	In office; March 4, 1789 – March 4, 1797
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Blair McClenachan (2nd)
Constituency	At-large (1789–91); 2nd district (1791–93); At-large (1793–95); 2nd district (1795–97)
Delegate from Pennsylvania to the Continental Congress
	In office; 1779–1780
Personal details
Born	Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg; January 1, 1750; Trappe, Pennsylvania, British America
Died	June 4, 1801 (aged 51); Lancaster, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Political party	Democratic-Republican (1795–1801); Anti-Administration (1791–1795); Pro-Administration (before 1791)
Alma mater	University of Halle
Profession	Minister of religion
Signature
Pennsylvania Historical Marker
Official name	Frederick A. C. Muhlenberg (1750-1801)
Type	Roadside
Designated	April 12, 2008[1]
Location	151 W Main St., Trappe, across from strip mall

Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg (/ˈmjuːlɪnbɜːrɡ/; January 1, 1750 – June 4, 1801) was an American minister and politician who was the first Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. A delegate to the Pennsylvania state constitutional convention and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania and a Lutheran pastor by profession, Muhlenberg was born in Trappe, Pennsylvania. His home, known as The Speaker's House, is now a museum and is currently undergoing restoration to restore its appearance during Muhlenberg's occupancy.[2]

Early life and ministerial career

Frederick Muhlenberg was born in Trappe, Pennsylvania, the son of Anna Maria (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.[3]

In 1763, together with his brothers John Peter Gabriel and Gotthilf Henry Ernst, he attended the Latina at the Franckesche Stiftungen[4] in Halle, Germany. In 1769, he attended the University of Halle, where he studied theology. He was ordained by the Pennsylvania Ministerium as a minister of the Lutheran Church on October 25, 1770. He preached in Stouchsburg, Pennsylvania, and Lebanon, Pennsylvania, from 1770 to 1774, and in New York City from 1774 to 1776. When the British entered New York at the onset of the American Revolutionary War, he felt obliged to leave and returned to Trappe. He moved to New Hanover Township, Pennsylvania and was pastor there and in Oley and New Goshenhoppen until August 1779.[5]

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

Political career

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. 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.[6]

In 1794, during Muhlenberg's second tenure as Speaker, the House voted 42-41 against a proposal to translate some of the laws into German. Muhlenberg, who himself abstained from the vote, commented later, "the faster the Germans become Americans, the better it will be."[7] Despite not having voted against the bill, a legend called the Muhlenberg Legend developed in which he was responsible for prohibiting German as an official language of the United States.[7]

According to another 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 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.[8]

Death and legacy

He was interred in Woodward Hill Cemetery in Lancaster.

In World War II, the United States liberty ship SS F. A. C. Muhlenberg was named in his honor.

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References

United States Congress. "Frederick Muhlenberg (id: M001063)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Biography and portrait at the University of Pennsylvania

Notes

"PHMC Frederick A. C. Muhlenberg (1750-1801)". Retrieved April 2, 2017.
"House Restoration". The Speakers House. Retrieved October 28, 2019.
Minardi, Lisa. "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.
Archiv der Franckeschen Stiftungen, AF St/S B I 94 I, 575-577
"MUHLENBERG, Frederick Augustus Conrad - US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives". history.house.gov.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Muhlenberg, John Peter Gabriel". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Bastian Sick: German as the official language of the USA?
"Frederick Muhlenberg - The Speakers House". The Speakers House. Archived from the original on July 25, 2016. Retrieved June 11, 2018.

External links

"Muhlenberg, Frederick Augustus Conrad" . New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
"Muhlenberg, Henry Melchior" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900.
Ritchie, Donald A. (2006). "Muhlenberg, Frederick Augustus". The Congress of the United States: A Student Companion. Oxford University Press. p. 146.
Peters, Ronald M. Jr. (1990). The American Speakership: The Office in Historical Perspective. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Jenkins, Jeffery A.; Charles Stewart, III (2012). "Appendix 2: Election of House Speaker, First-112th Congresses". Fighting for the Speakership: The House and the Rise of Party Government. Princeton University Press. p. 332.
"speakershouse.org/restoration".

Party political offices
Preceded by Arthur St. Clair	Federalist nominee for Governor of Pennsylvania 1793, 1796	Succeeded by James Ross
U.S. House of Representatives
New district	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's at-large congressional district March 4, 1789 – March 4, 1791 alongside: George Clymer, Thomas Fitzsimons, Thomas Hartley, Thomas Scott, Henry Wynkoop, Daniel Hiester and Peter G. Muhlenberg	Succeeded by District eliminated Redistricted to the 2nd district
Preceded by District created Redistricted from the at-large district	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district March 4, 1791 – March 4, 1793	Succeeded by District eliminated Redistricted to the 2nd district
Preceded by District created Redistricted from the at-large district	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's at-large congressional district March 4, 1793 – March 4, 1795 alongside: Thomas Fitzsimons, John W. Kittera, Thomas Hartley, Thomas Scott, James Armstrong, Peter G. Muhlenberg, Andrew Gregg, Daniel Hiester, William Irvine, William Findley, John Smilie, and William Montgomery	Succeeded by District eliminated Redistricted to the 2nd district
Preceded by District created Redistricted from the at-large district	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district March 4, 1795 – March 4, 1797	Succeeded by Blair McClenachan
Preceded by New position	Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives April 1, 1789 – March 4, 1791	Succeeded by Jonathan Trumbull Jr.
Preceded by Jonathan Trumbull Jr.	Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives December 2, 1793 – March 4, 1795	Succeeded by Jonathan Dayton

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[PHMC-1] "PHMC Frederick A. C. Muhlenberg (1750-1801)". Retrieved April 2, 2017.

[2] "House Restoration". The Speakers House. Retrieved October 28, 2019.

[3] Minardi, Lisa. "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 Franckeschen Stiftungen, AF St/S B I 94 I, 575-577

[5] "MUHLENBERG, Frederick Augustus Conrad - US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives". history.house.gov.

[6] One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Muhlenberg, John Peter Gabriel". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

[spiegel-7] Bastian Sick: German as the official language of the USA?

[8] "Frederick Muhlenberg - The Speakers House". The Speakers House. Archived from the original on July 25, 2016. Retrieved June 11, 2018.