GUEST,MC Fat,

Beat me to it, I think it was a vote in the House of Representatives sometime between 1910 and 1912. English remained the official language by a surprisingly narrow margin.

The Alaskan thing, relates to an extension of the Monroe Doctine of 1823, the Government of the US at that time was worried about European encroachment with regard to the various wars of independence in South America.

In Europe the French, Spanish, Prussians and Russians were all for involvement to prevent the loss of those colonies, the British and the Americans were against such intervention. The British for reasons of trade, the Americans for reasons of intervention and a potential presence that could prove troublesome in the future.

Should the European league set this ball rolling it could have meant that Russia could extend its influence down the western coast of Canada towards California. During and after the Crimean War the Russians were worried that Alaska could fall into the hands of the British. Negotiations between The US and Russia with regard to the purchase of Alaska had begun before the American Civil War, but the war suspended the talks, they were resumed after the war and the US purchased Alaska in 1867 for $7 million.

Bernard Cornwell, in one of his Sharpe series of books, mentioned a very interesting "What If" relating to the time of the wars of independence in South America. It apparently centres round a plan by characters like Higgins, Lynch and Cochrane to rescue Napoleon from St.Helena on an American ship, and transport him to Chile to mastermind the campaign against the Spanish. Unfortunately Bonaparte died two weeks before the ship arrived so the scheme came to nothing. Not withstanding that Napoleon was way passed his best by then, it does make an interesting "What if" - could have resulted in a United States of South America?