The Story of the Pledge of Allegiance

[ZOO]

[font=Times New Roman,Georgia,Times]The Story of the Pledge of Allegiance[/font][font=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]

[/font][font=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States, according to James A. Moss, an authority on the flag and its history, was first given national publicity through the official program of the National Public School Celebration of Columbus Day in October 1892. The Pledge had been published in theYouth's Companion for September 8,1892, and at the same time sent out in leaflet form throughout the country.During the Celebration it was repeated by more than 12,000,000 public school pupils in every state in the Union.[/font]​

[font=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]Mr. Francis Bellamy of Rome, New York, and Mr. James Upham of Malden, Massachusetts were both members of the staff of the Youth's Companion when the Pledge was published. The family of each man has contended that his was the authorship and both hold evidence to substantiate their claims.[/font]

[font=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]To determine, in the interest of historical accuracy, the actual authorship, the United States Flag Association (formerly in Washington, D.C., but now disbanded), in 1939, appointed a committee consisting of Charles C. Tansill,Professor of American History; W. Reed West, Professor of Political Science; and Bernard Mayo, Professor of American History, to carefully weigh the evidence of the two contending families. Unanimously, the committee decided in favor of Francis Bellamy, and on May 18, 1939, the decision was accepted by the American Flag Committee. Mr. Bellamy had been chairman of the executive committee which formulated the program for the National Public School Celebration and furnished the publicity when he was on the staff of the Youth's Companion.

In the material which he nationally circulated, he wrote, “Let the flag float over every school-house in the land and the exercise be such as shall impress upon our youth the patriotic duty of citizenship.” He also included the original 23 words of the Pledge which he had developed. * 'to' added in October, 1892.[/font]

[font=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]I pledge allegiance to my Flag,
and (to*) the Republic for which it stands:
one Nation indivisible,
With Liberty and Justice for all.
[/font]

[font=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]Thus it was that on Columbus Day in October 1892, the Pledge of Allegiance was repeated by more than 12 million public school children in every state in the union.​

The wording of the Pledge has been modified three times.

On June 14, 1923, at the First National Flag Conference held in Washington, D.C., under the 'leadership of the American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution, changed the Pledge's words. The latter words were added on the ground that some foreign-born children and adults when giving the Pledge might have in mind the flag of their native land.In 1923, the words “the flag of the United States” were substituted for “my flag.”[/font]


[font=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]I pledge allegiance to [/font][font=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]the Flag of the United States[/font][font=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular],
and to the Republic for which it stands:
one Nation indivisible,
With Liberty and Justice for all.[/font]

[font=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]In 1924, “of America” was added. [/font]​

[font=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]I pledge allegiance to the Flag
of the United States [/font][font=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]of America[/font][font=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular],
and to the Republic for which it stands:
one Nation indivisible,
With Liberty and Justice for all. [/font]

[font=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]​

On Flag Day June 14, 1954, the words “under God” were added[/font]


[font=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]The last change in the Pledge of Allegiance occurred on June 14 (Flag Day), 1954 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved adding the words "under God". As he authorized this change he said: "In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country's most powerful resource in peace and war."
This was the last change made to the Pledge of Allegiance. The 23 words what had been initially penned for a Columbus Day celebration now comprised a Thirty-one profession of loyalty and devotion to not only a flag, but to a way of life....the American ideal. Those words now read:[/font]

[font=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular] “I pledge allegiance to the Flag
of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands,
one nation under God, indivisible,[/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular] with liberty and justice for all.” [/font]


[font=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]The Pledge of Allegiance continued to be recited daily by children in schools across America, and gained heightened popularity among adults during the patriotic fervor created by World War II. It still was an "unofficial" pledge until June 22, 1942 when the United States Congress included the Pledge to the Flag in the United States Flag Code (Title 36). In 1945 the Pledge to the Flag received its official title as: The Pledge of Allegiance

When the Pledge is being given, all should stand with the right hand over the heart, fingers together and horizontal with the arm at as near a right angle as possible. After the words "justice to all," the arm should drop to the side. While giving the Pledge of Allegiance all should face the flag.​

According to Colonel Moss, no disrespect is displayed by giving the Pledge with a gloved hand over the heart, but he calls our attention to the fact that an Army Officer or an enlisted man always removes his right glove upon taking his oath as a witness. The Daughters of the American Revolution follow the custom of having the right hand ungloved.

​

The idea of the annual PAUSE FOR THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE originated in 1980 at the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House in Baltimore, Maryland. The National Flag Day Foundation. Inc. was created in 1982 “to conduct educational programs throughout the United States in promotion of National Flag Day and to encourage national patriotism by promotion of the PAUSE FOR THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGiANCE.”

On June 20, 1985, the Ninety-Ninth Congress passed and President Reagan signed Public Law 99-54 recognizing the PAUSE FOR THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE as part of National Flag Day activities. It is an invitation urging all Americans to participate on Flag Day, June 14, 7:00 p.m. (EDT) in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance

Zoo​

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[lizardman_u]

thank you for the history, I really appreciated it, shared with my wife's grandkids (9 and 10 years old)

 

[Hunter8705]

Thanks, I,ve recited the Pledge for years but didn't really know about it.

 

[FullerH]

What follows is excerpted from "The Pledge of Allegiance: A Short History", by Dr. John W. Baer. I post this version as a more accurate history than the propaganda piece posted by ZOO.

Francis Bellamy (1855 - 1931), a Baptist minister, wrote the original Pledge in August 1892. He was a Christian Socialist. In his Pledge, he is expressing the ideas of his first cousin, Edward Bellamy, author of the American socialist utopian novels, Looking Backward (1888) and Equality (1897).

Francis Bellamy in his sermons and lectures and Edward Bellamy in his novels and articles described in detail how the middle class could create a planned economy with political, social and economic equality for all. The government would run a peace time economy similar to our present military industrial complex.

The Pledge was published in the September 8th issue of The Youth's Companion, the leading family magazine and the Reader's Digest of its day. Its owner and editor, Daniel Ford, had hired Francis in 1891 as his assistant when Francis was pressured into leaving his baptist church in Boston because of his socialist sermons. As a member of his congregation, Ford had enjoyed Francis's sermons. Ford later founded the liberal and often controversial Ford Hall Forum, located in downtown Boston.

In 1892 Francis Bellamy was also a chairman of a committee of state superintendents of education in the National Education Association. As its chairman, he prepared the program for the public schools' quadricentennial celebration for Columbus Day in 1892. He structured this public school program around a flag raising ceremony and a flag salute - his 'Pledge of Allegiance.'

His original Pledge read as follows: 'I pledge allegiance to my Flag and (to*) the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.' He considered placing the word, 'equality,' in his Pledge, but knew that the state superintendents of education on his committee were against equality for women and African Americans. (* 'to' added in October, 1892.)

Dr. Mortimer Adler, American philosopher and last living founder of the Great Books program at Saint John's College, has analyzed these ideas in his book, The Six Great Ideas. He argues that the three great ideas of the American political tradition are 'equality, liberty and justice for all.' 'Justice' mediates between the often conflicting goals of 'liberty' and 'equality.'

In 1923 and 1924 the National Flag Conference, under the 'leadership of the American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution, changed the Pledge's words, 'my Flag,' to 'the Flag of the United States of America.' Bellamy disliked this change, but his protest was ignored.

In 1954, Congress after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus, added the words, 'under God,' to the Pledge. The Pledge was now both a patriotic oath and a public prayer.

Bellamy's granddaughter said he also would have resented this second change. He had been pressured into leaving his church in 1891 because of his socialist sermons. In his retirement in Florida, he stopped attending church because he disliked the racial bigotry he found there.

What follows is Bellamy's own account of some of the thoughts that went through his mind in August, 1892, as he picked the words of his Pledge:

"It began as an intensive communing with salient points of our national history, from the Declaration of Independence onwards; with the makings of the Constitution...with the meaning of the Civil War; with the aspiration of the people...

"The true reason for allegiance to the Flag is the 'republic for which it stands.' ...And what does that vast thing, the Republic mean? It is the concise political word for the Nation - the One Nation which the Civil War was fought to prove. To make that One Nation idea clear, we must specify that it is indivisible, as Webster and Lincoln used to repeat in their great speeches. And its future?

"Just here arose the temptation of the historic slogan of the French Revolution which meant so much to Jefferson and his friends, 'Liberty, equality, fraternity.' No, that would be too fanciful, too many thousands of years off in realization. But we as a nation do stand square on the doctrine of liberty and justice for all..."

 

[mycroftt]

Thanks for the histories of the Pledge. It is interesting that the Roman Catholic Knights of Columbus rewrote the pledge to include the words "under God". In their internal ceremonies they have again rewritten the Pledge to include the words "born and unborn" at the very end. I don't know if they intend to again petition Congress to officially change the Pledge.

 

[heathah]

[font=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]On Flag Day June 14, 1954, the words “under God” were added[/font]

[font=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]The last change in the Pledge of Allegiance occurred on June 14 (Flag Day), 1954 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved adding the words "under God". As he authorized this change he said: "In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country's most powerful resource in peace and war."[/font]

In 1954, Congress after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus, added the words, 'under God,' to the Pledge. The Pledge was now both a patriotic oath and a public prayer.

I'm just glad we still have "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

[mwerner]

Many still seem to misunderstand the controversy over the inclusion of the "under God" phrase, and it's challenge by separation groups.

No one wants to "remove" the little phrase, or prevent folks from reciting same until they are blue in the face.

The objection is to teacher-led, mandated recitation of the phrase in a public-school setting. The appellate court ruled that this amounted (correctly, IMO) to "establishment" of a particular religious view, IE-Monotheism.

The teacher in this case is a government employee, in a position of authority over the students.

 

[heathah]

Many still seem to misunderstand the controversy over the inclusion of the "under God" phrase, and it's challenge by separation groups.

No one wants to "remove" the little phrase, or prevent folks from reciting same until they are blue in the face.

The objection is to teacher-led, mandated recitation of the phrase in a public-school setting. The appellate court ruled that this amounted (correctly, IMO) to "establishment" of a particular religious view, IE-Monotheism.

The teacher in this case is a government employee, in a position of authority over the students.

Sure, the objection now is to teacher-led, mandated recitation of the phrase in a public school setting. What will the objection be in a few years?

All I'm saying is that with the recent controversies concerning the Ten Commandments in certain Federal and State Buildings, anything can happen. Religion is being pushed out of America's door one small nudge at a time.

 

[mwerner]

Hehe- not to derail the thread, but that hardly seems likely. Of the "developed" nations, America is far and away the most religious. My 150-or-so channel cable service has 6-7 full-time religious broadcasting networks.

The vast majority of Americans identify themselves as religious to a greater or lesser degree, and you can hardly drive more than a few minutes in any direction without running into a church sign of some sort with whatever current message they've put up.

I think the perception that we "secularists" are trying to drive religion out of public life is just that, a perception. The cases that have made the news in recent years involve, as in the Pledge situation, mandated participation in religious activities in government-run settings.

Of course, no one could ever accuse religious folks of any variety attempting to impose their viewpoint on all and sundry....