A history of the English Language

245.
National Consciousness.
There is evidence that at the time of the American Revolution and especially in the years 
immediately following it, Americans were beginning to be conscious of their language 
and to believe that it might be destined to have a future as glorious as that which they 
confidently expected for the country itself. It was apparent that in the 150 years since the 
founding of Jamestown and Plymouth the English language on this continent had 
developed certain differences that were often the subject of remark. Thomas Jefferson 
thought that Americans were more tolerant of innovations in speech than the people of 
England and that these innovations might eventually justify calling the language of 
America by a name other than English. The consciousness of an American variety of 
English with characteristics of its own led to the consideration of a standard that should 
The english language in america 343

---

be recognized on this side of the Atlantic. John Witherspoon, whose papers on the 
English language in the 
Pennsylvania Journal
for 1781 have already been mentioned, 
believed it probable that American English would not follow the course of Scots and 
become a provincial dialect. “Being entirely separated from Britain,” he says, “we shall 
find some centre or standard of our own, and not be subject to the inhabitants of that 
island, either in receiving new ways of speaking or rejecting the old.” That others were 
thinking along the same lines and were unwilling that this standard should be left to 
chance is evident from a communication published in January 1774 in the 
Royal 
American Magazine
. The writer signs himself “An American” and gives evidence of his 
patriotic fervor by venturing the opinion that although English has been greatly improved 
in Britain within the last century, “its highest perfection, with every other branch of 
human knowledge, is perhaps reserved for this Land of light and freedom.” He proposes 
the formation of something like an academy in this country: 
I beg leave to propose a plan for perfecting the English language in 
America, thro’ every future period of its existence; viz. That a society, for 
this purpose should be formed, consisting of members in each university 
and seminary, who shall be stiled, 
Fellows ofthe American Society of 
Language:
That the society, when established, from time to time elect 
new members, & thereby be made perpetual. And that the society 
annually publish some observations upon the language and from year to 
year, correct, enrich and refine it, until perfection stops their progress and 
ends their labour. 
I conceive that such a society might easily be established, and that 
great advantages would thereby accrue to science, and consequently 
America would make swifter advances to the summit of learning. It is 
perhaps impossible for us to form an idea of the perfection, the beauty, the 
grandeur, & sublimity, to which our language may arrive in the progress 
of time, passing through the improving tongues of our rising posterity; 
whose aspiring minds, fired by our example, and ardour for glory, may far 
surpass all the sons of science who have shone in past ages, & may light 
up the world with new ideas bright as the sun.
15
Whether the author of this proposal was John Adams, a future president of the United 
States, is not certain. His name has sometimes been mentioned in connection with it 
because a few years later he made a somewhat similar suggestion in a letter to the 
president of Congress, written from Amsterdam, September 5, 1780. After directing 
attention to the importance of “eloquence and language” in a republic and citing the 
example of France, Spain, and Italy in forming academies for the improvement of their 
languages, he continues: 
15 
First republished by Albert Matthews in 
Trans. of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts,
XIV, 
263–64. It is reprinted in M.M.Mathews, 
The Beginnings of American English
(Chicago, 1931), pp. 
40–41. 
A history of the english language 344

---

The honor of forming the first public institution for refining, correcting, 
improving, and ascertaining the English language, I hope is reserved for 
congress; they have every motive that can possibly influence a public 
assembly to undertake it. It will have a happy effect upon the union of the 
States to have a public standard for all persons in every part of the 
continent to appeal to, both for the signification and pronunciation of the 
language. The constitutions of all the States in the Union are so 
democratical that eloquence will become the instrument for 
recommending men to their fellow-citizens, and the principal means of 
advancement through the various ranks and offices of society…. 
…English is destined to be in the next and succeeding centuries more 
generally the language of the world than Latin was in the last or French is 
in the present age. The reason of this is obvious, because the increasing 
population in America, and their universal connection and correspondence 
with all nations will, aided by the influence of England in the world, 
whether great or small, force their language into general use, in spite of all 
the obstacles that may be thrown in their way, if any such there should 
be.It is not necessary to enlarge further, to show the motives which the 
people of America have to turn their thoughts early to this subject; they 
will naturally occur to congress in a much greater detail than I have time 
to hint at. I would therefore submit to the consideration of congress the 
expediency and policy of erecting by their authority a society under the 
name of “the American Academy for refining, improving, and 
ascertaining the English Language….”
16
There is nothing very original in this suggestion. It follows the proposals that had been 
made by Swift and others in England (see §§ 192ff.). But it is significant as indicating a 
growing sense of the importance that Americans were beginning to attach to the form that 
English was taking and should take in the future in America. That feeling was to find 
expression in the more extreme views of one of Adams’ contemporaries, Noah Webster.