The invention of composition as a required course in the United States, a booming textbook industry, and an increased focus on nationalism perpetuated the standardizing of English language practices and curriculums in secondary and postsecondary schools in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Composition textbooks circulated both standard English (SE) and standard American English (SAE) throughout educational institutions across the country and closely correlated standard language practices with nationalism and national pride, which further codified and sedimented standard language practices in English curriculums and classrooms. In this paper, I analyze how several popular textbooks for teaching English in the United States established and enforced standards for English. Then I examine how several American textbooks for teaching composition and English directly associated nationalism with SE and promoted a national language practice. I argue that this correlation between nation and language formed an ideological network that empowered SE and SAE. To conclude this paper, I contend that using translingual and multimodal pedagogies to teach writing is an important first step educators can take to justify teaching and learning with and about diverse language practices. Students using multimodal and translingual writing practices to learn about themselves and to compose academic arguments that are as well-reasoned and researched as English-only print-texts can challenge the dominance and authority of SE and SAE.