As noted before, Spanish and French were the first European immigrant languages in what is now the United States. Spanish remains a legal language in New Mexico. Original land grants by the Crown in Spain to both settlers and pueblos of the Indian peoples, and recognized by the government of the United States, are held in Sevilla, Spain, in the Archives of the Indies,where they are still being consulted to settle fine points of land ownership.
   
For practical purposes, English is the national language, and those resident in the States must be fluent in English in order to participate nationally.

Nevertheless, many citizens in the southwestern states conduct their lives mostly in Spanish, from shopping to receiving government services, to publishing and broadcasting, and certainly at home. Courts must provide translation for those not fluent in English.
Spanish is so important to hemispheric business that the Santa Fé public school system (and many others) brings in Spanish language teachers from Spain as well as Latin America.

As the numbers of Hispanics in the United States continues to increase, use of Spanish will continue to increase. Over 37.5 million
Hispanics (Latinos) are among the civilian population, over 13 per cent of the total, and the numbers are increasing. To Latinos, 'La Raza' is important; this fact alone will spur the growth of Spanish in the States.

Educated Europeans speak more than one language, Canadians legally can speak two; As time goes on I expect to see United States citizens speaking both major hemispheric languages, English and Spanish.