Here is a fact that has apparently been lost in the dustbin of history: our Pledge of Allegiance was created in 1892 as a promotional gimmick for the Chicago World’s Fair celebration in honor of the quadricentennial of Columbus’ arrival in America. It was a big event and the U.S. government made plans for a national Public School Celebration for Columbus Day, 1892.
The editors of The Youth’s Companion, a popular family magazine that was the Readers’ Digest of the late 19th century, became sponsors of the celebration and made it their goal to get every public school in America to raise a flag while students recited a salute — but first, a salute had to be written.
Francis Bellamy (1855 - 1931), a Baptist minister who was forced out of his Boston church for his socialist sermons was assigned to write the Pledge of Allegiance for The Youth’s Companion and the pledge he wrote was recited by an estimated 10 million schoolchildren on Columbus Day, October 12, 1892:
“I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Mr. Bellamy considered using the word “equality” but since many people were still opposed equal rights for women and African Americans in 1892, he decided it would be too controversial.
Other than a grammatical correction — the word “to” was added before “the Republic” — the pledge remained the same until 1924 when the National Flag Conference called for the words “my Flag” to be changed to “the Flag of the United States of America,” in order to ensure that immigrants would understand to which flag they were pledging their allegiance.
“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Various other changes were suggested over the years, but none of them were formally adopted. The United States Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance on June 22, 1942 — 52 years after it was originally written.
Following a campaign that was initiated by the Roman Catholic Knights of Columbus in 1954, Senator Homer Ferguson of Michigan sponsored a bill to insert the words “under God,” in order to distinguish the U.S. from the “godless” — and communist — Soviet Union as well as to remove the suggestion of worshiping a flag as a graven image.
“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, with liberty and justice for all.”
What was originally a patriotic oath became a public prayer, too. However, the insertion of the words “under God” did not “…[reaffirm] the transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future,” as President Dwight D. Eisenhower said in 1954, nor did it “…constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country’s most powerful resource in peace and war.” Rather, American society and the U.S. government have become increasingly secular ever since.
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Original Articles Copyright 2005 by Margaret Romao Toigo
We have become more secular ever since sadly, but it seems like you are implying it is because we put the words “under God” in the pledge. I really don’t think that is why. I think we know why. Thanks for adding me to your blogroll…I still haven’t added you, but I’m going to do so right now.
We have become more secular ever since sadly, but it seems like you are implying it is because we put the words “under God” in the pledge. I really don’t think that is why. I think we know why. Thanks for adding me to your blogroll…I still haven’t added you, but I’m going to do so right now.
We have become more secular ever since sadly, but it seems like you are implying it is because we put the words “under God” in the pledge. I really don’t think that is why. I think we know why. Thanks for adding me to your blogroll…I still haven’t added you, but I’m going to do so right now.
The suggestion was not that adding the words “under God” has caused society to be come more secular (although I can understand how it could be interpreted that way), but rather the inaccuracy of President Eisenhower’s prediction that the addition of those words would “…[reaffirm] the transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future … constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country’s most powerful resource in peace and war.”
Whenever a fello blogger leaves a comment here, I click on the link and visit his or her site. If I am interested in the subject matter or feel compelled to leave a comment, I add them to my blogroll with that little drag and drop thingie I got from Blogrolling.com.
I see that your message posted three times, which means that I must remember to have a talk with my web hosting service because our business websites are hosted there, too..
Sorry about the triple post. I kept getting errors, and then boom they were all there. I agree with him that spiritual weapons are the most powerful resource. As we wage against this war on evil, I believe that prayer is THE most powerful weapon we have.
I’m a visitor from Canada. I’m interested in American perspectives on things because I live amoung a lot of anti-American bigots here in Canada. Somethings in particular, like the pledge of allegiance debate are very foreign to Canadians. I think that we are more secular as a country, but mentions of God in official documents and traditions don’t seem to upset people here either. We have a hardcore anti-religion left, but we have a very large Catholic population as well, but neither seem to get into the issues like you do in the United States. I think it may be because our Left Wing groups just don’t make an issue of it. The one issue though, which has enflamed people here, is the recent legalisation of Same Sex Marriage. Now, that’s polerizing a lot of us.
Would you mind updating your link to me? I am now at http://www.stoptheaclu.com
Thanks, Jay