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Bilingualism was largely accepted prior to the 1850s for many linguistic minorities, and was encouraged through ethnic enclaves established across the US due to the mercantile benefits of their communities: “Immigrants  brought  with  them  a  wide  variety  of  languages  and  initially  there  was linguistic tolerance… linguistic  diversity  was  often  accepted  and  the  presence  of  different languages  was  frequently  encouraged  through  religion,  newspapers  in  different  languages” (Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Ch. 9, Pg. 3 - 4)

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A notable politician who argued for more English-dominant schools to be constructed in Pennsylvania after lacking the influence over German-speaking voters. German was a predominant language in Early America, and Franklin was one of the first to propose the idea of predominantly English schools. He feared that the ascent of German would make English a minority language, thus weakening English culture as a whole.

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A future president who proposed that English become the official language of the United States during the writing of the Constitution. The founding fathers ruled against this proposition, claiming that it went against the freedoms championed heavily within the document.

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In the 17th century, around 18 non-Native American languages were originally spoken on Manhattan Island directly after New Netherland was relinquished to the British. Italian, French, Dutch, Polish, Spanish, and most notably German were all heavily utilized in the early stages of American development.

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There were no policies in place by the 1800s mandating English in academic settings or institutions, but the general acceptance of bilingualism was formed and constructed based on community-wide agreements; where anti-immigrant sentiments were strong, bilingualism was looked down on; where immigrant communities had strong sway, there was general bilingual acceptance.

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The Continental Congress made a concerted effort to accommodate non-English speakers by translating important documents into multiple languages. For example, the Articles of Confederation were translated into French and German, and after the Louisiana Purchase was finalized, all major government documents were published with an English and French version.

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Efforts to suppress non-white minority languages, however, fared far worse in the American consciousness; English-only classrooms were established in Spanish-speaking schools and Native reservations in an effort to eradicate their Native languages and further marginalize them through politicized linguistic hierarchies. Although this primarily happened in the 1850s - onward, the racist and prejudiced sentiments which informed this anti-bilingual stance can be traced back to America's founding in the 1700s.

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European emigrants established themselves in rural communities and operated their own non-English-speaking schools.

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Benjamin Franklin created the College of Philadelphia, desiring an emphasis on English education over Greek, Latin, or German. While Latin and Greek were taught, English was the primary language used to disseminate information, and Latin/Greek were used for specific concepts only.

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Congress considered a proposal to translate all legislation and documents into German as well as English to allow for German citizens to have a better understanding of policy. This proposal was rejected by one vote, and a subsequent proposal on February 16 failed as well, keeping all policy in English only.

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On April 15, 1755, the Dictionary of the English Language was published by Samuel Johnson.