07/28/2026
Frederick Muhlenberg (1750-1801) was one of three sons of Heinrich (Henry) Mühlenberg, the founder of the Lutheran Church in the American colonies, and his wife Anna Maria Weiser. His brother, Peter, was a general in the Continental Army and his brother Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst was a botanist.
Frederick and his brothers attended the Latin School at the Franckesche Foundations in Halle, Germany beginning in 1763 where he also pursued the study of theology at the University of Halle. He preached in Stouchsburg, Pennsylvania, and Lebanon, Pennsylvania, from 1770 to 1774, and in New York City from 1774 to 1776. When the British Army entered New York at the onset of the American Revolutionary War, he left and returned to Pennsylvania. He moved to New Hanover Township, and was a pastor there and in Oley and New Goshenhoppen until August 1779.
Muhlenberg was a member of the Continental Congress in 1779 and 1780, and served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1780 to 1783, and was elected its speaker on Nov. 3, 1780. As a delegate to and chairman of the Pennsylvania state constitutional convention in 1787, he was also called to ratify the Federal Constitution, and became the first signer of the Bill of Rights. His name is also tied to the Muhlenberg Myth, which claims that he was the one vote which prevented German from becoming an official language in the United States. More on that tomorrow. He died on June 4, 1801, and is buried in Woodward Hill Cemetery in Lancaster.
