The Pledge of Allegiance

A Baptist Minister named Francis Bellamy wrote the original Pledge in August 1892. was expressing the ideas of his cousin, Edward Bellamy, author of the books “Looking Backward” and “Equality”. As a chairman of a committee of state superintendents of education in the National Education Association, he structured a public school program around a flag raising ceremony and a flag salute - his 'Pledge of Allegiance' for Columbus Day in 1892. 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.”

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.”

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.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower 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."

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.

We as a nation do stand square on the doctrine of liberty and justice for all...

About Me

My name is Shawn and along with my wife Jenn, and newborn son Caleb, we reside in a nice rural town in North Carolina. My wife teaches 5th graders and I am a Computer Technician/Programmer. I am an avid fisherman and work as the audio/visual director at my church. I served this great country for four years in the U.S. Army and am dedicated to being a patriot.