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Although English is usually considered the 'American language,' there is no official language in America. From the beginning of the United States of America, English was used in formal national ceremonies and important documents, but it did not have any legal status as the official language. The federal government maintained a liberal policy about the official language. But the federal government of the United States adopted a pro-English policy toward new territories and forced indigenous American Indians to learn English. English was the de facto national language of America. It was also unavoidable for new immigrants to learn English to survive in the new society. English played the critical role as the indispensable instrument of assimilating the various immigrants into one nation. The second or third generation of immigrants could speak English without accent, feeling they were true American citizens. But English faced an unexpected challenge after the new Civil Rights Act of 1964 and new Immigration Act of 1965 were passed. With the new Immigration Act, a huge number of non-European immigrants began to arrive America; their language heritage was protected by the new Civil Rights Act. In the Lau v. Nicols case of 1974, the Supreme Court, recognizing the language rights of minority groups, opened the door for immigrants to receive education in their own languages instead of English. The Lau decision broke the monolingual tradition of English, and many public services were provided in other languages beside English. The new multilingualism gave birth to an official English movement. It tried to amend the Constitution to legalize English as the official language without success. Realizing it was impossible to amend the Constitution in a short time, the advocates for official English instead achieved significant successes by going to the states as battlegrounds in the campaign to declare English as the official language. Many states including California have adopted English as their official language. What does the official English movement mean? In American history, English was crucial in making American identity, so that the issue of official English is more than a language issue. At stake is American national identity. Does the official English movement itself reveal American identity is in crisis? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]