I was just going to bring this up :)
Actually I don't believe they had quiet the majority although about
1/3 of the population was 1st generation German and so it stands to
reason that German was the first language of at least 33 percent of the
population. When you add in the substantial Scandinavian population
and such, it wouldn't suprise me if English was not the first language
of a majority of the state (although it most likely was the most common
spoken language).
The desire to NOT speak English was strong enough that when the
Legislature passed a bill requiring English to be the language of all
schooling in the 1880's the backlash destroyed the Republican
government of the state (The Democrats gained control of the
government; something that would not manage again until the 1930's)
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