>English is Illinois's official language. Illinois was one of the first states in the United States to pass an official language law, though its first official language was not English but 'American'. In 1923, Representative Washington J. McCormick of Montana had failed to pass a bill in the United States Congress declaring 'American' to be the official language of the United States. Following the bill's failure, Senator Frank Ryan introduced a similar bill to the Illinois General Assembly. The bill passed with the support of Irish and Jewish politicians in Chicago, who, by rejecting the term 'English', wanted to show their opposition to British policies in Ireland and Palestine, respectively
