A bill to create a Department of Education at the federal level was introduced in October 1918, designed to restrict federal funds to states that enforced English-only education. Some extended their bans into private instruction and even to religious education.

Some states banned foreign language instruction, while a few banned only German. It took many forms, from requiring associations to have charters written in English to a ban on the use of German within the town limits. Language was a principal focus of legislation at the state and local level. World War I witnessed an extensive campaign against all things German, such as the performance of German music at symphony concerts and the meetings of German-American civic associations.

The Court held that the liberties protected by the Fourteenth Amendment applied to foreign-language speakers.

The Nebraska law had been passed during World War I, during a period of heightened anti-German sentiment in the United States.

Supreme Court case that held that a 1919 Nebraska law restricting foreign-language education violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Sam pdf basic