Frederick Muhlenberg biography, high resolution photos and videos by Americola 
Frederick Muhlenberg
[edit] Americola's celebrity biographies are provided by AmericolaWiki, a celebrity wiki. You can help contribute to Americola and edit this article.
| Frederick Muhlenberg
|
Image:Muhlenberg.jpg
|
|
In office
April 1 1789 – March 4 1791 (1st)
December 2 1793 – March 4 1795 (3rd)
|
| Preceded by
| None; First in line (1st)
Jonathan Trumbull, Jr. (3rd)
|
| Succeeded by
| Jonathan Trumbull, Jr. (1st)
Jonathan Dayton (3rd)
|
|
In office
March 4 1789 — March 3 1795 (At-Large)
March 4 1795 — March 3 1797 (2nd)
|
| Preceded by
| None (At-Large)
Thomas Fitzsimons, John W. Kittera, Thomas Hartley, Thomas Scott, James Armstrong, Peter Muhlenberg, Andrew Gregg, Daniel Hiester, William Irvine, William Findley, John Smilie, William Montgomery (2nd)
|
| Succeeded by
| John Swanwick, Richard Thomas, Samuel Sitgreaves, John Richards, Daniel Hiester, John A. Hanna, John W. Kittera, Thomas Hartley, Andrew Gregg, David Bard, Samuel Maclay, William Findley, Albert Gallatin (At-Large)
Blair McClenachan (2nd)
|
|
| Born
| January 1 1750
 Trappe, Pennsylvania
|
| Died
| June 4 1801
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
|
| Political party
| Pro-Administration Party
Anti-Administration Party
|
| Profession
| Lutheran minister
|
| Religion
| American Lutheranism
|
Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg (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 and a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania and a Lutheran pastor by profession, Muhlenberg was born in Trappe, Pennsylvania.
Contents
- 1 Education and ministerial career
- 2 Political career
- 3 Family
- 4 Mühlenberg legend
- 5 See also
- 6 External links
|
Education and ministerial career
He attended the
University of Halle, Germany, where he studied
theology, and was ordained by the ministerium of Pennsylvania a minister of the Lutheran Church on
October 25 1770. He preached in
Stouchsburg, Pennsylvania and
Lebanon, Pennsylvania from 1770 - 1774, and in
New York City from 1774 - 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.
Political career
Muhlenberg was a member of the Continental Congress in 1779 and 1780, and served in the State house of representatives from 1780-1783 and was elected speaker November 3 1780. He was a delegate to and president of the State constitutional convention in 1787 called to ratify the Federal Constitution.
Elected to the First and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4 1789–March 4 1797), Muhlenberg was the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives for the First Congress (1789-1791) and Third Congress (1793-1795). He did not seek renomination in 1796.
Muhlenberg was also president of the council of censors of Pennsylvania, and was appointed receiver general of the Pennsylvania Land Office on January 8 1800, and served until his death in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on June 4, 1801. He was interred in Woodward Hill Cemetery there. After his death, the Township of Muhlenberg, Pennsylvania was named for him.
Family
His father,
Henry Muhlenberg, an immigrant from
Germany, is considered the founder of the Lutheran Church in America. His brother,
Peter, was a General in the
Continental Army.
Mühlenberg legend
There is an urban legend that because of Mühlenberg, German didn't become the second official language of the United States. At the heart of this legend is a vote in the United States House of Representatives from 1794, where a group of German immigrants asked for the translation of some laws into German. This petition was rejected by a 42-41 vote and Mühlenberg was later quoted as "the faster the Germans become Americans, the better it will be".
See also
