As anyone who has come within ten feet of a news source in the past two years knows, we are in the final stretch of a historic presidential election. Three of the four presidential and vice presidential candidates are firsts in a variety of categories: Senator Barack Obama, of course, is the first black Democratic Party presidential candidate; Senator John McCain is the oldest candidate and, if elected, would be the first President who served in the Vietnam War; and Sarah Palin is the first female Republican vice presidential candidate as well as the first female Alaskan governor. Senator Hillary Clinton was the first female Democratic presidential candidate and came within a hair’s width of winning her party’s nomination. (I don’t want Senator Joe Biden to feel left out; perhaps we can mark his candidacy as the first “third Senator” vice presidential nominee.)
How is this relevant to The Speaker’s House? you may be wondering. Well, we are all about historical firsts at The Speaker’s House, especially when it comes to elections. The first and foremost similarity is that Frederick Muhlenberg ran in our country’s first ever national election. He won his election and became the first Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives in1789. As a result of his position as Speaker of the House, Muhlenberg was the first to sign the Bill of Rights in September 1789.
But Frederick Muhlenberg achieved another historic first — perhaps the most relevant one to today’s presidential election: he was the first German-American to be elected to a national office. (His brother, Peter, was also elected to the First Congress so one could argue he tied Frederick in this category.) Muhlenberg’s election was no small feat. German immigrants were regarded with suspicion and not a little xenophobia, especially newly arrived families who did not speak English.
However, Germans were becoming an important group in the nascent country and had supported the Revolutionaries against the British. As with today’s presidential election, Frederick Muhlenberg’s colleagues weighed the political risk of his candidacy. Muhlenberg historian Lisa Minardi noted in her Master’s thesis, “With the election of [George] Washington, a Virginian, as president, and the New Englander John Adams as vice-president, Congress sought someone for the speakership of the House who would bring political balance to the new government. Frederick Muhlenberg’s experience as speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly, his Pennsylvania roots, and ability to bring out German-speaking voters, was discussed favorably by the members.” A person’s regional and ethnic background seemed to be as important a factor of a candidate’s electability in the late 18th century as it is today.
Muhlenberg’s achievement of holding an office of high honor filled the German-Americans, settled in and near Philadelphia – including Trappe, with great pride. Upon hearing the news of Muhlenberg’s successful election, a German-language Philadelphia newspaper proclaimed that, “the blood of the grandchildren of our grandchildren will proudly well up in their hearts when they read in the histories of America that the first Speaker of the House…was a German, born of German parents in Pennsylvania.” We hear similar sentiments expressed in the 2008 election by African-Americans in regard to Barack Obama’s nomination and by women from all different backgrounds about both Hillary Clinton and Sarah Pallin’s ascendancies.
The newspapers of the 1700s were right that descendants of the early German settlers would proudly celebrate Muhlenberg’s historic firsts. The lives of Muhlenberg and other prominent German-Americans who have helped make our nation great will be celebrated during German-American Day 2008, September 27th – October 6th (or should we say Days since the celebration lasts for 10 days) . A schedule of events can be found at the German-American Day web site: wwwgermanamericanday.org. You’ll find out all about the contributions of America’s largest ethnic group, including when and where the Oktoberfests are happening! Be sure to visit The Speaker’s House on Saturday, September 27 between noon and 3 pm for a tour of the house and grounds.
