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Pledge of Allegiance

December 14, 2023

This article is about the oath spoken to the U.S. flag. For the oath used in U.S. naturalization ceremonies, see Oath of Allegiance (United States). For other uses, see Pledge of Allegiance (disambiguation).

The Pledge of Allegiance is a patriotic recited verse that promises allegiance to the flag of the United States and the republic of the United States of America. The first version, with a text different from the one used at present, was written in 1885 by Captain George Thatcher Balch, a Union Army officer in the Civil War who later authored a book on how to teach patriotism to children in public schools.[5][6][7] In 1892, Francis Bellamy revised Balch's verse as part of a magazine promotion surrounding the World's Columbian Exposition, which celebrated the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the Americas. Bellamy, the circulation manager for The Youth's Companion magazine, helped persuade then-president Benjamin Harrison to institute Columbus Day as a national holiday and lobbied Congress for a national school celebration of the day.[8] The magazine sent leaflets containing part of Bellamy's Pledge of Allegiance to schools across the country and on October 21, 1892, over 10,000 children recited the verse together.[9]

Pledge of Allegiance
(Bellamy versions)
(changes are bolded and underlined)
1892 (first version)[1]
"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
1892 to 1923 (early revision by Bellamy)[2]
"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
1923 to 1924[3]
"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
1924 to 1954[3]
"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."
1954 (current version, per 4 U.S.C. §4)[4]
"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."
Schoolchildren in 1899 reciting the Pledge of Allegiance

Bellamy's version of the pledge is largely the same as the one formally adopted by Congress 50 years later, in 1942.[10] The official name of The Pledge of Allegiance was adopted in 1945. The most recent alteration of its wording came on Flag Day (June 14) in 1954, when the words "under God" were added.[11]

Recital edit

Congressional sessions open with the recital of the Pledge, as do many government meetings at local levels, and meetings held by many private organizations. All states except Nebraska, Hawaii, Vermont, and Wyoming require a regularly scheduled recitation of the pledge in public schools.[12] Many states give a variety of exemptions from reciting the pledge, such as California which requires a "patriotic exercise" every day, which would be satisfied by the Pledge, but it is not enforced.[13] The Supreme Court has ruled in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette that students cannot be compelled to recite the Pledge, nor can they be punished for not doing so.[14] In several states, state flag pledges of allegiance are required to be recited after the pledge to the American flag.[15]

The current United States Flag Code says:

The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag: "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," should be rendered by standing at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. When not in uniform men should remove any non-religious headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should remain silent, face the flag, and render the military salute.[16] Members of the Armed Forces not in uniform and veterans may render the military salute in the manner provided for persons in uniform.[4]

Origins edit

Historians point to surges in American patriotic oaths and pledges to the flag after the Civil War, when tensions surrounding political loyalties persisted, and in the 1880s, as rates of immigration increased dramatically.[17][18][19]

Balch pledge edit

 
Captain George T. Balch wrote an early pledge of allegiance.
 
Reverend Francis Bellamy wrote the version that became official.

An early pledge was created in 1887 by Captain George T. Balch,[20] a veteran of the Civil War, who later became auditor of the New York Board of Education.[21] Balch's pledge, which was recited contemporaneously with Bellamy's until the 1923 National Flag Conference, read:[20]

We give our heads and hearts to God and our country; one country, one language, one flag!

Balch was a proponent of teaching children, especially those of immigrants, loyalty to the United States, even going so far as to write a book on the subject and work with both the government and private organizations to distribute flags to every classroom and school.[22] Balch's pledge, which predates Francis Bellamy's by five years and was embraced by many schools, by the Daughters of the American Revolution until the 1910s, and by the Grand Army of the Republic until the 1923 National Flag Conference, is often overlooked when discussing the history of the Pledge.[23]

Bellamy pledge edit

The pledge that later evolved into the form used today was composed in August 1892 by Francis Bellamy (1855–1931) for the popular children's magazine The Youth's Companion. In February 2022, Barry Popik tweeted a May 1892 newspaper report from Hays, Kansas, of a school flag-raising on 30 April accompanied by an almost identical pledge.[24][25] An alternative theory is that the pledge was submitted to an 1890 patriotic competition in The Youth's Companion by a 13-year-old Kansas schoolboy, coincidentally named Frank E. Bellamy. Fred R. Shapiro regards Popik's discovery as favouring Frank E. Bellamy rather than Francis Bellamy as the originator.[25] Francis Bellamy, who was a Baptist minister, a Christian socialist,[26][27] and the cousin of Edward Bellamy (1850–1898), described the text of Balch's pledge as "too juvenile and lacking in dignity."[28] The Bellamy "Pledge of Allegiance" was first published in the September 8, 1892 issue of The Youth's Companion as part of the National Public-School Celebration of Columbus Day, a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas. The event was conceived and promoted by James B. Upham, a marketer for the magazine, as a campaign to instill the idea of American nationalism in students and to encourage children to raise flags above their schools.[29] According to author Margarette S. Miller, this campaign was in line both with Upham's patriotic vision as well as with his commercial interest. According to Miller, Upham "would often say to his wife: 'Mary, if I can instill into the minds of our American youth a love for their country and the principles on which it was founded, and create in them an ambition to carry on with the ideals which the early founders wrote into The Constitution, I shall not have lived in vain.'"[30] In 1957, Kenneth Keating instigated a report by Congress' Legislative Research Service that it was Francis Bellamy, and not James B. Upham, who authored the September 8, 1892 article; Keating represented New York's 38th congressional district, which included Bellamy's birthplace, Mount Morris.[25]

Bellamy's original Pledge :

I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.[1][31]

The Pledge was supposed to be quick and to the point. Bellamy designed it to be recited in 15 seconds. As a socialist, he had initially also considered using the words equality and fraternity[29] but decided against it.

Francis Bellamy and Upham had lined up the National Education Association to support the Youth's Companion as a sponsor of the Columbus Day observance and the use in that observance of the American flag. By June 29, 1892, Bellamy and Upham had arranged for Congress and President Benjamin Harrison to announce a proclamation making the public school flag ceremony the center of the Columbus Day celebrations. This arrangement was formalized when Harrison issued Presidential Proclamation 335. Subsequently, the Pledge was first used in public schools on October 12, 1892, during Columbus Day observances organized to coincide with the opening of the World's Columbian Exposition (the Chicago World's Fair), Illinois.[32]

Francis Bellamy's account edit

In his recollection of the creation of the Pledge, Francis Bellamy said, "At the beginning of the nineties patriotism and national feeling was (sic) at a low ebb. The patriotic ardor of the Civil War was an old story ... The time was ripe for a reawakening of simple Americanism and the leaders in the new movement rightly felt that patriotic education should begin in the public schools."[28] James Upham "felt that a flag should be on every schoolhouse,"[28] so his publication "fostered a plan of selling flags to schools through the children themselves at cost, which was so successful that 25,000 schools acquired flags in the first year (1892–93).[28]

As the World's Columbian Exposition was set to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas, Upham sought to link the publication's flag drive to the event, "so that every school in the land ... would have a flag raising, under the most impressive conditions."[28] Bellamy was placed in charge of this operation and was soon lobbying "not only the superintendents of education in all the States, but [he] also worked with governors, Congressmen, and even the President of the United States."[28] The publication's efforts paid off when Benjamin Harrison declared Wednesday October 12, 1892, to be Columbus Day for which The Youth's Companion made "an official program for universal use in all the schools."[28] Bellamy recalled that the event "had to be more than a list of exercises. The ritual must be prepared with simplicity and dignity."[28]

Edna Dean Proctor wrote an ode for the event, and "There was also an oration suitable for declamation."[28] Bellamy held that "Of course, the nub of the program was to be the raising of the flag, with a salute to the flag recited by the pupils in unison."[28] He found "There was not a satisfactory enough form for this salute. The Balch salute, which ran, "I give my heart and my hand to my country, one country, one language, one flag," seemed to him too juvenile and lacking in dignity."[28] After working on the idea with Upham, Bellamy concluded, "It was my thought that a vow of loyalty or allegiance to the flag should be the dominant idea. I especially stressed the word 'allegiance'. ... Beginning with the new word allegiance, I first decided that 'pledge' was a better school word than 'vow' or 'swear'; and that the first person singular should be used, and that 'my' flag was preferable to 'the.'"[28] Bellamy considered the words "country, nation, or Republic," choosing the last as "it distinguished the form of government chosen by the founding fathers and established by the Revolution. The true reason for allegiance to the flag is the Republic for which it stands."[28] Bellamy then reflected on the sayings of Revolutionary and Civil War figures, and concluded "all that pictured struggle reduced itself to three words, one Nation indivisible."[28]

Bellamy considered the slogan of the French Revolution, Liberté, égalité, fraternité ("liberty, equality, fraternity"), but held that "fraternity was too remote of realization, and … [that] equality was a dubious word."[28] Concluding "Liberty and justice were surely basic, were undebatable, and were all that any one Nation could handle. If they were exercised for all. They involved the spirit of equality and fraternity."[28]

After being reviewed by Upham and other members of The Youth's Companion, the Pledge was approved and put in the official Columbus Day program. Bellamy noted that "in later years the words 'to my flag' were changed to 'to the flag of the United States of America' because of the large number of foreign children in the schools."[28] Bellamy disliked the change, as "it did injure the rhythmic balance of the original composition."[28]

Changes edit

 
A plaque in Lansing, Michigan, dated 1918, listing the Balch Pledge, which was used parallel to the Bellamy Pledge until the National Flag Conference in 1923

In 1906, The Daughters of the American Revolution's magazine, The American Monthly, used the following wording for the pledge of allegiance, based on Balch's Pledge:

I pledge allegiance to my flag, and the republic for which it stands. I pledge my head and my heart to God and my country. One country, one language and one flag.[23]

In subsequent publications of the Daughters of the American Revolution, such as in 1915's "Proceedings of the Twenty-Fourth Continental Congress of the Daughters of the American Revolution" and 1916's annual "National Report," the previous pledge (adjusted to read "I pledge my head, my hand, my heart..."), listed as official in 1906, is now categorized as "Old Pledge" with Bellamy's version under the heading "New Pledge."[33][34] The "Old Pledge" was still taken in other organizations until the National Flag Conference established uniform flag procedures in 1923.

In 1923, the National Flag Conference called for the words "my Flag" to be changed to "the Flag of the United States," so that new immigrants would not confuse loyalties between their birth countries and the US.[citation needed] The words "of America" were added a year later. Congress officially recognized the Pledge for the first time, in the following form, on June 22, 1942:[35]

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.

Addition of "under God" edit

"Under God" redirects here. For the book by Toby Mac and Michael Tait, see Under God (book).

Louis Albert Bowman, an attorney from Illinois, was the first to suggest the addition of "under God" to the pledge. The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution gave him an Award of Merit as the originator of this idea.[36][37] He spent his adult life in the Chicago area and was chaplain of the Illinois Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. At a meeting on February 12, 1948,[36] he led the society in reciting the pledge with the two words "under God" added. He said that the words came from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Although not all manuscript versions of the Gettysburg Address contain the words "under God", all the reporters' transcripts of the speech as delivered do, as perhaps Lincoln may have deviated from his prepared text and inserted the phrase when he said "that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom."[38] Bowman repeated his revised version of the Pledge at other meetings.[36]

During the Cold War era, many Americans wanted to distinguish the United States from the state atheism promoted by Marxist-Leninist countries, a view that led to support for the words "under God" to be added to the Pledge of Allegiance.[39][40]

In 1951, the Knights of Columbus, the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization, also began including the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.[41] In New York City, on April 30, 1951, the board of directors of the Knights of Columbus adopted a resolution to amend the text of their Pledge of Allegiance at the opening of each of the meetings of the 800 Fourth Degree Assemblies of the Knights of Columbus by addition of the words "under God" after the words "one nation." Over the next two years, the idea spread throughout Knights of Columbus organizations nationwide. On August 21, 1952, the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus at its annual meeting adopted a resolution urging that the change be made universal, and copies of this resolution were sent to the President, the Vice President (as Presiding Officer of the Senate), and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The National Fraternal Congress meeting in Boston on September 24, 1952, adopted a similar resolution upon the recommendation of its president, Supreme Knight Luke E. Hart. Several State Fraternal Congresses acted likewise almost immediately thereafter. This campaign led to several official attempts to prompt Congress to adopt the Knights of Columbus policy for the entire nation. These attempts were eventually a success.[42]

At the suggestion of a correspondent, Representative Louis C. Rabaut (D-Mich.), of Michigan sponsored a resolution to add the words "under God" to the Pledge in 1953.[43]

 
George MacPherson Docherty (left) and President Eisenhower (second from left) on the morning of February 7, 1954, at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church

Before February 1954, no endeavor to get the pledge officially amended had succeeded. The final successful push came from George MacPherson Docherty. Some American presidents honored Lincoln's birthday by attending services at the church Lincoln attended, New York Avenue Presbyterian Church by sitting in Lincoln's pew on the Sunday nearest February 12. On February 7, 1954, with President Dwight D. Eisenhower sitting in Lincoln's pew, Docherty, the church's pastor, delivered a sermon based on the Gettysburg Address entitled "A New Birth of Freedom." He argued that the nation's might lay not in arms but rather in its spirit and higher purpose. He noted that the Pledge's sentiments could be those of any nation: "There was something missing in the pledge, and that which was missing was the characteristic and definitive factor in the American way of life." He cited Lincoln's words "under God" as defining words that set the US apart from other nations.[citation needed]

President Eisenhower had been baptized a Presbyterian very recently, just a year before. He responded enthusiastically to Docherty in a conversation following the service. Eisenhower acted on his suggestion the next day and on February 8, 1954, Rep. Charles Oakman (R-Mich.), introduced a bill to that effect. Congress passed the necessary legislation and Eisenhower signed the bill into law on Flag Day, June 14, 1954.[44] Eisenhower said:

From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural school house, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty.... 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 or in war.[45]

The phrase "under God" was incorporated into the Pledge of Allegiance on June 14, 1954, by a Joint Resolution of Congress amending § 4 of the Flag Code enacted in 1942.[44]

On October 6, 1954, the National Executive Committee of the American Legion adopted a resolution, first approved by the Illinois American Legion Convention in August 1954, which formally recognized the Knights of Columbus for having initiated and brought forward the amendment to the Pledge of Allegiance.[42]

Salute edit

 
Children performing the Bellamy salute to the flag of the United States, 1941

Swearing of the Pledge is accompanied by a salute. An early version of the salute, adopted in 1887, was known as the Balch Salute. This salute accompanied the Balch pledge and instructed students to stand with their right hand outstretched toward the flag, the fingers of which are then brought to the forehead, followed by being placed flat over the heart, and finally falling to the side.

In 1892, Francis Bellamy created what was known as the Bellamy salute to accompany his own version of the Pledge of Allegiance. It started with the hand outstretched toward the flag, palm down, and ended with the palm up. Because of the similarity between the Bellamy salute and the Nazi salute, which was adopted in Germany in the 1930s, the US Congress stipulated that the hand-over-the-heart gesture would instead be rendered by civilians during the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem, thereby replacing the Bellamy salute. Removal of the Bellamy salute occurred on December 22, 1942, when Congress amended the Flag Code language first passed into law on June 22, 1942.[46] Attached to bills passed in Congress in 2008 and then in 2009 (Section 301(b)(1) of title 36, United States Code), language was included which authorized all active duty military personnel and all veterans in civilian clothes to render a proper hand salute during the raising and lowering of the flag, when the colors are presented, and during the National Anthem.[47]

Sarah Churchwell has argued that the term "salute", as it relates to the Bellamy and Balch salutes, historically referred to the words of the pledges themselves, not a physical gesture.[48]

Music edit

 
Musical setting by Irving Caesar

A musical setting for "The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag" was created by Irving Caesar, at the suggestion of Congressman Louis C. Rabaut whose House Resolution 243 to add the phrase "under God" was signed into law on Flag Day, June 14, 1954.[49]

The composer Irving Caesar wrote and published over 700 songs in his lifetime. Dedicated to social issues, he donated all rights of the musical setting to the U.S. government, so that anyone can perform the piece without owing royalties.[50][51]

It was sung for the first time on the floor of the House of Representatives on Flag Day, June 14, 1955 by the official Air Force choral group the "Singing Sergeants". A July 29, 1955 House and Senate resolution authorized the U.S. Government Printing Office to print and distribute the song sheet together with a history of the pledge.[52]

Other musical versions of the Pledge have since been copyrighted, including by Beck (2003), Lovrekovich (2002 and 2001), Roton (1991), Fijol (1986), and Girardet (1983).[53]

Controversy edit

Main article: Criticism of the Pledge of Allegiance

In 1940, the Supreme Court, in Minersville School District v. Gobitis, ruled that students in public schools, including the respondents in that case—Jehovah's Witnesses who considered the flag salute to be idolatry—could be compelled to swear the Pledge. In 1943, in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, the Supreme Court reversed its decision. Justice Robert H. Jackson, writing for the 6 to 3 majority, went beyond simply ruling in the precise matter presented by the case to say that public school students are not required to say the Pledge on narrow grounds, and asserted that such ideological dogmata are antithetical to the principles of the country, concluding with:

If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us.[54]

In 2004, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals held that students are also not required to stand for the Pledge.[55]

 
First graders of Japanese ancestry pledging allegiance to the American flag (1942, photo by Dorothea Lange)

Requiring or promoting of the Pledge on the part of the government has continued to draw criticism and legal challenges on several grounds.

One objection is that a constitutional republic built on freedom of dissent should not require its citizens to pledge allegiance to it, and that the First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the right to refrain from speaking or standing, which itself is also a form of speech in the context of the ritual of pledging allegiance.[56][55] Another objection is that the people who are most likely to recite the Pledge every day, small children in schools, cannot really give their consent or even completely understand the Pledge they are making.[57][58] Another criticism is the belief that a government requiring or promoting the phrase "under God" violates protections against the establishment of religion guaranteed in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.[59][60]

In 2004, linguist Geoffrey Nunberg said the original supporters of the addition thought that they were simply quoting Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, but to Lincoln and his contemporaries, "under God" meant "God willing", so they would have found its use in the Pledge of Allegiance grammatically incorrect and semantically odd.[61][62]

Legal challenges edit

Prominent legal challenges were brought in the 1930s and 1940s by Jehovah's Witnesses, a denomination whose beliefs preclude swearing loyalty to any power other than God, and who objected to policies in public schools requiring students to swear an oath to the flag.[63] They said requiring the pledge violated their freedom of religion guaranteed by the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. The first case was in 1935, when two children, Lillian and William Gobitas, ages ten and twelve, were expelled from the Minersville, Pennsylvania, public schools that year for failing to salute the flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.[64] The issue was finally settled in favor of the Witnesses by the 1943 ruling Supreme Court ruling, West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette.

In a 2002 case brought by atheist Michael Newdow, whose daughter was being taught the Pledge in school, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the phrase "under God" an unconstitutional endorsement of monotheism when the Pledge was promoted in public school. In 2004, the Supreme Court heard Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow, an appeal of the ruling, and rejected Newdow's claim on the grounds that he was not the custodial parent, and therefore lacked standing, thus avoiding ruling on the merits of whether the phrase was constitutional in a school-sponsored recitation. On January 3, 2005, a new suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California on behalf of three unnamed families. On September 14, 2005, District Court Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled in their favor. Citing the precedent of the 2002 ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Karlton issued an order stating that, upon proper motion, he would enjoin the school district defendants from continuing their practices of leading children in pledging allegiance to "one Nation under God."[65]

In 2006, in the Florida case Frazier v. Alexandre, a federal district court in Florida ruled that a 1942 state law requiring students to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.[66] As a result of that decision, a Florida school district was ordered to pay $32,500 to a student who chose not to say the pledge and was ridiculed and called "unpatriotic" by a teacher.[67]

In 2009, a Montgomery County, Maryland, teacher berated and had school police remove a 13-year-old girl who refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance in the classroom. The student's mother, assisted by the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, sought and received an apology from the teacher, as state law and the school's student handbook both prohibit students from being forced to recite the Pledge.[68]

On March 11, 2010, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance in the case of Newdow v. Rio Linda Union School District.[69][70] In a 2–1 decision, the appellate court ruled that the words were of a "ceremonial and patriotic nature" and did not constitute an establishment of religion.[69] Judge Stephen Reinhardt dissented, writing that "the state-directed, teacher-led daily recitation in public schools of the amended 'under God' version of the Pledge of Allegiance... violates the Establishment Clause of the Constitution."[71]

On November 12, 2010, in a unanimous decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston affirmed a ruling by a New Hampshire lower federal court which found that the pledge's reference to God does not violate non-pledging students' rights if student participation in the pledge is voluntary.[72][73] A United States Supreme Court appeal of this decision was denied on June 13, 2011.[74][75]

In September 2013, a case was brought before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, arguing that the pledge violates the Equal Rights Amendment of the Constitution of Massachusetts.[76] In May 2014, Massachusetts' highest court ruled that the pledge does not discriminate against atheists, saying that the words "under God" represent a patriotic, not a religious, exercise.[77]

In February 2015 New Jersey Superior Court Judge David F. Bauman dismissed a lawsuit, ruling that "… the Pledge of Allegiance does not violate the rights of those who don't believe in God and does not have to be removed from the patriotic message."[78] The case against the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District had been brought by a student of the district and the American Humanist Association that argued that the phrase "under God" in the pledge created a climate of discrimination because it promoted religion, making non-believers "second-class citizens." In a 21-page decision, Bauman wrote, "Under [the association members'] reasoning, the very constitution under which [the members] seek redress for perceived atheistic marginalization could itself be deemed unconstitutional, an absurd proposition which [association members] do not and cannot advance here."[78] Bauman said the student could skip the pledge, but upheld a New Jersey law that says pupils must recite the pledge unless they have "conscientious scruples" that do not allow it.[79][80] He noted, "As a matter of historical tradition, the words 'under God' can no more be expunged from the national consciousness than the words 'In God We Trust' from every coin in the land, than the words 'so help me God' from every presidential oath since 1789, or than the prayer that has opened every congressional session of legislative business since 1787."

See also edit

References edit

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  2. ^ Jones, Jeffrey Owen. "The Man Who Wrote the Pledge of Allegiance January 31, 2018, at the Wayback Machine," Smithsonian Magazine, Nov. 2003. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
  3. ^ a b "The Pledge of Allegiance May 16, 2023, at the Wayback Machine," Celebrating America's Freedoms. n.d. U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
  4. ^ a b "Title 4, Chapter 1, Section 4, US Code". from the original on March 26, 2023. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  5. ^ Kirkpatrick, Melanie. "One Nation, Indivisible". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. from the original on December 10, 2015. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
  6. ^ . www.goordnance.army.mil. Archived from the original on June 6, 2012. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
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  11. ^ . WVSD.USCourts.gov. United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. Archived from the original on June 30, 2022. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
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  13. ^ Tucker, Jill (March 23, 2013). . San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on March 27, 2013. Retrieved September 18, 2019. California state law doesn't require the recitation in schools, although 45 other states do. But students can't be required to say it or even stand during the pledge, according to a Supreme Court decision. ... California does require every public school to include a "patriotic exercise" every day - which the pledge would fulfill - but it's a vague requirement that's not enforced.
  14. ^ Crawford, Amy (September 2015), "PR Gimmick to Patriotic Vow; Francis Bellamy had no idea how famous, and controversial, his quick ditty would become", Smithsonian Magazine, from the original on October 14, 2017, retrieved October 14, 2017
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  24. ^
    • "Pledge of Allegiance (1892)". Ellis County News Republican. Newspapers.com. May 21, 1892. p. 4. from the original on February 24, 2022. Retrieved February 24, 2022. I pledge allegiance to my flag and the republic for which it stands; one nation inseparable with liberty and justice for all.
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Further reading edit

  • Martin, Leisa A. (May–June 2008). "Examining the Pledge of Allegiance". Social Studies. 99 (3): 127–131. doi:10.3200/tsss.99.3.127-131. S2CID 144498218.
  • Baer, John W. (2007). The Pledge of Allegiance: A Revised History and Analysis, 1892–2007 (Free State Press, Inc.) ISBN 978-0-9650620-2-2
  • Ellis, Richard J. (2005). To the Flag: The Unlikely History of the Pledge of Allegiance (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press) ISBN 0-7006-1372-2
  • Leepson, Marc (2005). Flag: An American Biography (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press) ISBN 0-312-32308-5
  • Kruse, Kevin M. (2015). One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America, Basic Books, ISBN 0465049494.

External links edit

  • 4 U.S.C. § 4
  • Docherty's Sermon Manuscript, Feb. 7, 1954
  • Minister Reprises "Under God" Sermon
  • Francis Julius Bellamy papers, A.B43, and the David Bellamy papers, D.147, both located in Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester. The David Bellamy papers are primarily concerned with the controversy surrounding the authorship of the Pledge.

December 14, 2023
pledge, allegiance, this, article, about, oath, spoken, flag, oath, used, naturalization, ceremonies, oath, allegiance, united, states, other, uses, disambiguation, patriotic, recited, verse, that, promises, allegiance, flag, united, states, republic, united, . This article is about the oath spoken to the U S flag For the oath used in U S naturalization ceremonies see Oath of Allegiance United States For other uses see Pledge of Allegiance disambiguation The Pledge of Allegiance is a patriotic recited verse that promises allegiance to the flag of the United States and the republic of the United States of America The first version with a text different from the one used at present was written in 1885 by Captain George Thatcher Balch a Union Army officer in the Civil War who later authored a book on how to teach patriotism to children in public schools 5 6 7 In 1892 Francis Bellamy revised Balch s verse as part of a magazine promotion surrounding the World s Columbian Exposition which celebrated the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus arrival in the Americas Bellamy the circulation manager for The Youth s Companion magazine helped persuade then president Benjamin Harrison to institute Columbus Day as a national holiday and lobbied Congress for a national school celebration of the day 8 The magazine sent leaflets containing part of Bellamy s Pledge of Allegiance to schools across the country and on October 21 1892 over 10 000 children recited the verse together 9 Pledge of Allegiance Bellamy versions changes are bolded and underlined 1892 first version 1 I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all 1892 to 1923 early revision by Bellamy 2 I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all 1923 to 1924 3 I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States and to the Republic for which it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all 1924 to 1954 3 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 1954 current version per 4 U S C 4 4 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 Schoolchildren in 1899 reciting the Pledge of AllegianceBellamy s version of the pledge is largely the same as the one formally adopted by Congress 50 years later in 1942 10 The official name of The Pledge of Allegiance was adopted in 1945 The most recent alteration of its wording came on Flag Day June 14 in 1954 when the words under God were added 11 Contents 1 Recital 2 Origins 2 1 Balch pledge 2 2 Bellamy pledge 2 3 Francis Bellamy s account 3 Changes 3 1 Addition of under God 4 Salute 5 Music 6 Controversy 6 1 Legal challenges 7 See also 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External linksRecital editCongressional sessions open with the recital of the Pledge as do many government meetings at local levels and meetings held by many private organizations All states except Nebraska Hawaii Vermont and Wyoming require a regularly scheduled recitation of the pledge in public schools 12 Many states give a variety of exemptions from reciting the pledge such as California which requires a patriotic exercise every day which would be satisfied by the Pledge but it is not enforced 13 The Supreme Court has ruled in West Virginia State Board of Education v Barnette that students cannot be compelled to recite the Pledge nor can they be punished for not doing so 14 In several states state flag pledges of allegiance are required to be recited after the pledge to the American flag 15 The current United States Flag Code says The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag 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 should be rendered by standing at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart When not in uniform men should remove any non religious headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder the hand being over the heart Persons in uniform should remain silent face the flag and render the military salute 16 Members of the Armed Forces not in uniform and veterans may render the military salute in the manner provided for persons in uniform 4 Origins editHistorians point to surges in American patriotic oaths and pledges to the flag after the Civil War when tensions surrounding political loyalties persisted and in the 1880s as rates of immigration increased dramatically 17 18 19 Balch pledge edit nbsp Captain George T Balch wrote an early pledge of allegiance nbsp Reverend Francis Bellamy wrote the version that became official An early pledge was created in 1887 by Captain George T Balch 20 a veteran of the Civil War who later became auditor of the New York Board of Education 21 Balch s pledge which was recited contemporaneously with Bellamy s until the 1923 National Flag Conference read 20 We give our heads and hearts to God and our country one country one language one flag Balch was a proponent of teaching children especially those of immigrants loyalty to the United States even going so far as to write a book on the subject and work with both the government and private organizations to distribute flags to every classroom and school 22 Balch s pledge which predates Francis Bellamy s by five years and was embraced by many schools by the Daughters of the American Revolution until the 1910s and by the Grand Army of the Republic until the 1923 National Flag Conference is often overlooked when discussing the history of the Pledge 23 Bellamy pledge edit The pledge that later evolved into the form used today was composed in August 1892 by Francis Bellamy 1855 1931 for the popular children s magazine The Youth s Companion In February 2022 Barry Popik tweeted a May 1892 newspaper report from Hays Kansas of a school flag raising on 30 April accompanied by an almost identical pledge 24 25 An alternative theory is that the pledge was submitted to an 1890 patriotic competition in The Youth s Companion by a 13 year old Kansas schoolboy coincidentally named Frank E Bellamy Fred R Shapiro regards Popik s discovery as favouring Frank E Bellamy rather than Francis Bellamy as the originator 25 Francis Bellamy who was a Baptist minister a Christian socialist 26 27 and the cousin of Edward Bellamy 1850 1898 described the text of Balch s pledge as too juvenile and lacking in dignity 28 The Bellamy Pledge of Allegiance was first published in the September 8 1892 issue of The Youth s Companion as part of the National Public School Celebration of Columbus Day a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus s arrival in the Americas The event was conceived and promoted by James B Upham a marketer for the magazine as a campaign to instill the idea of American nationalism in students and to encourage children to raise flags above their schools 29 According to author Margarette S Miller this campaign was in line both with Upham s patriotic vision as well as with his commercial interest According to Miller Upham would often say to his wife Mary if I can instill into the minds of our American youth a love for their country and the principles on which it was founded and create in them an ambition to carry on with the ideals which the early founders wrote into The Constitution I shall not have lived in vain 30 In 1957 Kenneth Keating instigated a report by Congress Legislative Research Service that it was Francis Bellamy and not James B Upham who authored the September 8 1892 article Keating represented New York s 38th congressional district which included Bellamy s birthplace Mount Morris 25 Bellamy s original Pledge I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all 1 31 The Pledge was supposed to be quick and to the point Bellamy designed it to be recited in 15 seconds As a socialist he had initially also considered using the words equality and fraternity 29 but decided against it Francis Bellamy and Upham had lined up the National Education Association to support the Youth s Companion as a sponsor of the Columbus Day observance and the use in that observance of the American flag By June 29 1892 Bellamy and Upham had arranged for Congress and President Benjamin Harrison to announce a proclamation making the public school flag ceremony the center of the Columbus Day celebrations This arrangement was formalized when Harrison issued Presidential Proclamation 335 Subsequently the Pledge was first used in public schools on October 12 1892 during Columbus Day observances organized to coincide with the opening of the World s Columbian Exposition the Chicago World s Fair Illinois 32 Francis Bellamy s account edit In his recollection of the creation of the Pledge Francis Bellamy said At the beginning of the nineties patriotism and national feeling was sic at a low ebb The patriotic ardor of the Civil War was an old story The time was ripe for a reawakening of simple Americanism and the leaders in the new movement rightly felt that patriotic education should begin in the public schools 28 James Upham felt that a flag should be on every schoolhouse 28 so his publication fostered a plan of selling flags to schools through the children themselves at cost which was so successful that 25 000 schools acquired flags in the first year 1892 93 28 As the World s Columbian Exposition was set to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas Upham sought to link the publication s flag drive to the event so that every school in the land would have a flag raising under the most impressive conditions 28 Bellamy was placed in charge of this operation and was soon lobbying not only the superintendents of education in all the States but he also worked with governors Congressmen and even the President of the United States 28 The publication s efforts paid off when Benjamin Harrison declared Wednesday October 12 1892 to be Columbus Day for which The Youth s Companion made an official program for universal use in all the schools 28 Bellamy recalled that the event had to be more than a list of exercises The ritual must be prepared with simplicity and dignity 28 Edna Dean Proctor wrote an ode for the event and There was also an oration suitable for declamation 28 Bellamy held that Of course the nub of the program was to be the raising of the flag with a salute to the flag recited by the pupils in unison 28 He found There was not a satisfactory enough form for this salute The Balch salute which ran I give my heart and my hand to my country one country one language one flag seemed to him too juvenile and lacking in dignity 28 After working on the idea with Upham Bellamy concluded It was my thought that a vow of loyalty or allegiance to the flag should be the dominant idea I especially stressed the word allegiance Beginning with the new word allegiance I first decided that pledge was a better school word than vow or swear and that the first person singular should be used and that my flag was preferable to the 28 Bellamy considered the words country nation or Republic choosing the last as it distinguished the form of government chosen by the founding fathers and established by the Revolution The true reason for allegiance to the flag is the Republic for which it stands 28 Bellamy then reflected on the sayings of Revolutionary and Civil War figures and concluded all that pictured struggle reduced itself to three words one Nation indivisible 28 Bellamy considered the slogan of the French Revolution Liberte egalite fraternite liberty equality fraternity but held that fraternity was too remote of realization and that equality was a dubious word 28 Concluding Liberty and justice were surely basic were undebatable and were all that any one Nation could handle If they were exercised for all They involved the spirit of equality and fraternity 28 After being reviewed by Upham and other members of The Youth s Companion the Pledge was approved and put in the official Columbus Day program Bellamy noted that in later years the words to my flag were changed to to the flag of the United States of America because of the large number of foreign children in the schools 28 Bellamy disliked the change as it did injure the rhythmic balance of the original composition 28 Changes edit nbsp A plaque in Lansing Michigan dated 1918 listing the Balch Pledge which was used parallel to the Bellamy Pledge until the National Flag Conference in 1923In 1906 The Daughters of the American Revolution s magazine The American Monthly used the following wording for the pledge of allegiance based on Balch s Pledge I pledge allegiance to my flag and the republic for which it stands I pledge my head and my heart to God and my country One country one language and one flag 23 In subsequent publications of the Daughters of the American Revolution such as in 1915 s Proceedings of the Twenty Fourth Continental Congress of the Daughters of the American Revolution and 1916 s annual National Report the previous pledge adjusted to read I pledge my head my hand my heart listed as official in 1906 is now categorized as Old Pledge with Bellamy s version under the heading New Pledge 33 34 The Old Pledge was still taken in other organizations until the National Flag Conference established uniform flag procedures in 1923 In 1923 the National Flag Conference called for the words my Flag to be changed to the Flag of the United States so that new immigrants would not confuse loyalties between their birth countries and the US citation needed The words of America were added a year later Congress officially recognized the Pledge for the first time in the following form on June 22 1942 35 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 Addition of under God edit Under God redirects here For the book by Toby Mac and Michael Tait see Under God book Louis Albert Bowman an attorney from Illinois was the first to suggest the addition of under God to the pledge The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution gave him an Award of Merit as the originator of this idea 36 37 He spent his adult life in the Chicago area and was chaplain of the Illinois Society of the Sons of the American Revolution At a meeting on February 12 1948 36 he led the society in reciting the pledge with the two words under God added He said that the words came from Lincoln s Gettysburg Address Although not all manuscript versions of the Gettysburg Address contain the words under God all the reporters transcripts of the speech as delivered do as perhaps Lincoln may have deviated from his prepared text and inserted the phrase when he said that the nation shall under God have a new birth of freedom 38 Bowman repeated his revised version of the Pledge at other meetings 36 During the Cold War era many Americans wanted to distinguish the United States from the state atheism promoted by Marxist Leninist countries a view that led to support for the words under God to be added to the Pledge of Allegiance 39 40 In 1951 the Knights of Columbus the world s largest Catholic fraternal service organization also began including the words under God in the Pledge of Allegiance 41 In New York City on April 30 1951 the board of directors of the Knights of Columbus adopted a resolution to amend the text of their Pledge of Allegiance at the opening of each of the meetings of the 800 Fourth Degree Assemblies of the Knights of Columbus by addition of the words under God after the words one nation Over the next two years the idea spread throughout Knights of Columbus organizations nationwide On August 21 1952 the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus at its annual meeting adopted a resolution urging that the change be made universal and copies of this resolution were sent to the President the Vice President as Presiding Officer of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives The National Fraternal Congress meeting in Boston on September 24 1952 adopted a similar resolution upon the recommendation of its president Supreme Knight Luke E Hart Several State Fraternal Congresses acted likewise almost immediately thereafter This campaign led to several official attempts to prompt Congress to adopt the Knights of Columbus policy for the entire nation These attempts were eventually a success 42 At the suggestion of a correspondent Representative Louis C Rabaut D Mich of Michigan sponsored a resolution to add the words under God to the Pledge in 1953 43 nbsp George MacPherson Docherty left and President Eisenhower second from left on the morning of February 7 1954 at the New York Avenue Presbyterian ChurchBefore February 1954 no endeavor to get the pledge officially amended had succeeded The final successful push came from George MacPherson Docherty Some American presidents honored Lincoln s birthday by attending services at the church Lincoln attended New York Avenue Presbyterian Church by sitting in Lincoln s pew on the Sunday nearest February 12 On February 7 1954 with President Dwight D Eisenhower sitting in Lincoln s pew Docherty the church s pastor delivered a sermon based on the Gettysburg Address entitled A New Birth of Freedom He argued that the nation s might lay not in arms but rather in its spirit and higher purpose He noted that the Pledge s sentiments could be those of any nation There was something missing in the pledge and that which was missing was the characteristic and definitive factor in the American way of life He cited Lincoln s words under God as defining words that set the US apart from other nations citation needed President Eisenhower had been baptized a Presbyterian very recently just a year before He responded enthusiastically to Docherty in a conversation following the service Eisenhower acted on his suggestion the next day and on February 8 1954 Rep Charles Oakman R Mich introduced a bill to that effect Congress passed the necessary legislation and Eisenhower signed the bill into law on Flag Day June 14 1954 44 Eisenhower said From this day forward the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town every village and rural school house the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty 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 or in war 45 The phrase under God was incorporated into the Pledge of Allegiance on June 14 1954 by a Joint Resolution of Congress amending 4 of the Flag Code enacted in 1942 44 On October 6 1954 the National Executive Committee of the American Legion adopted a resolution first approved by the Illinois American Legion Convention in August 1954 which formally recognized the Knights of Columbus for having initiated and brought forward the amendment to the Pledge of Allegiance 42 Salute edit nbsp Children performing the Bellamy salute to the flag of the United States 1941Swearing of the Pledge is accompanied by a salute An early version of the salute adopted in 1887 was known as the Balch Salute This salute accompanied the Balch pledge and instructed students to stand with their right hand outstretched toward the flag the fingers of which are then brought to the forehead followed by being placed flat over the heart and finally falling to the side In 1892 Francis Bellamy created what was known as the Bellamy salute to accompany his own version of the Pledge of Allegiance It started with the hand outstretched toward the flag palm down and ended with the palm up Because of the similarity between the Bellamy salute and the Nazi salute which was adopted in Germany in the 1930s the US Congress stipulated that the hand over the heart gesture would instead be rendered by civilians during the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem thereby replacing the Bellamy salute Removal of the Bellamy salute occurred on December 22 1942 when Congress amended the Flag Code language first passed into law on June 22 1942 46 Attached to bills passed in Congress in 2008 and then in 2009 Section 301 b 1 of title 36 United States Code language was included which authorized all active duty military personnel and all veterans in civilian clothes to render a proper hand salute during the raising and lowering of the flag when the colors are presented and during the National Anthem 47 Sarah Churchwell has argued that the term salute as it relates to the Bellamy and Balch salutes historically referred to the words of the pledges themselves not a physical gesture 48 Music edit nbsp Musical setting by Irving CaesarA musical setting for The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag was created by Irving Caesar at the suggestion of Congressman Louis C Rabaut whose House Resolution 243 to add the phrase under God was signed into law on Flag Day June 14 1954 49 The composer Irving Caesar wrote and published over 700 songs in his lifetime Dedicated to social issues he donated all rights of the musical setting to the U S government so that anyone can perform the piece without owing royalties 50 51 It was sung for the first time on the floor of the House of Representatives on Flag Day June 14 1955 by the official Air Force choral group the Singing Sergeants A July 29 1955 House and Senate resolution authorized the U S Government Printing Office to print and distribute the song sheet together with a history of the pledge 52 Other musical versions of the Pledge have since been copyrighted including by Beck 2003 Lovrekovich 2002 and 2001 Roton 1991 Fijol 1986 and Girardet 1983 53 Controversy editMain article Criticism of the Pledge of Allegiance In 1940 the Supreme Court in Minersville School District v Gobitis ruled that students in public schools including the respondents in that case Jehovah s Witnesses who considered the flag salute to be idolatry could be compelled to swear the Pledge In 1943 in West Virginia State Board of Education v Barnette the Supreme Court reversed its decision Justice Robert H Jackson writing for the 6 to 3 majority went beyond simply ruling in the precise matter presented by the case to say that public school students are not required to say the Pledge on narrow grounds and asserted that such ideological dogmata are antithetical to the principles of the country concluding with If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation it is that no official high or petty can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics nationalism religion or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein If there are any circumstances which permit an exception they do not now occur to us 54 In 2004 the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals held that students are also not required to stand for the Pledge 55 nbsp First graders of Japanese ancestry pledging allegiance to the American flag 1942 photo by Dorothea Lange Requiring or promoting of the Pledge on the part of the government has continued to draw criticism and legal challenges on several grounds One objection is that a constitutional republic built on freedom of dissent should not require its citizens to pledge allegiance to it and that the First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the right to refrain from speaking or standing which itself is also a form of speech in the context of the ritual of pledging allegiance 56 55 Another objection is that the people who are most likely to recite the Pledge every day small children in schools cannot really give their consent or even completely understand the Pledge they are making 57 58 Another criticism is the belief that a government requiring or promoting the phrase under God violates protections against the establishment of religion guaranteed in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment 59 60 In 2004 linguist Geoffrey Nunberg said the original supporters of the addition thought that they were simply quoting Lincoln s Gettysburg Address but to Lincoln and his contemporaries under God meant God willing so they would have found its use in the Pledge of Allegiance grammatically incorrect and semantically odd 61 62 Legal challenges edit Prominent legal challenges were brought in the 1930s and 1940s by Jehovah s Witnesses a denomination whose beliefs preclude swearing loyalty to any power other than God and who objected to policies in public schools requiring students to swear an oath to the flag 63 They said requiring the pledge violated their freedom of religion guaranteed by the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment The first case was in 1935 when two children Lillian and William Gobitas ages ten and twelve were expelled from the Minersville Pennsylvania public schools that year for failing to salute the flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance 64 The issue was finally settled in favor of the Witnesses by the 1943 ruling Supreme Court ruling West Virginia State Board of Education v Barnette In a 2002 case brought by atheist Michael Newdow whose daughter was being taught the Pledge in school the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the phrase under God an unconstitutional endorsement of monotheism when the Pledge was promoted in public school In 2004 the Supreme Court heard Elk Grove Unified School District v Newdow an appeal of the ruling and rejected Newdow s claim on the grounds that he was not the custodial parent and therefore lacked standing thus avoiding ruling on the merits of whether the phrase was constitutional in a school sponsored recitation On January 3 2005 a new suit was filed in the U S District Court for the Eastern District of California on behalf of three unnamed families On September 14 2005 District Court Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled in their favor Citing the precedent of the 2002 ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Karlton issued an order stating that upon proper motion he would enjoin the school district defendants from continuing their practices of leading children in pledging allegiance to one Nation under God 65 In 2006 in the Florida case Frazier v Alexandre a federal district court in Florida ruled that a 1942 state law requiring students to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U S Constitution 66 As a result of that decision a Florida school district was ordered to pay 32 500 to a student who chose not to say the pledge and was ridiculed and called unpatriotic by a teacher 67 In 2009 a Montgomery County Maryland teacher berated and had school police remove a 13 year old girl who refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance in the classroom The student s mother assisted by the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland sought and received an apology from the teacher as state law and the school s student handbook both prohibit students from being forced to recite the Pledge 68 On March 11 2010 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the words under God in the Pledge of Allegiance in the case of Newdow v Rio Linda Union School District 69 70 In a 2 1 decision the appellate court ruled that the words were of a ceremonial and patriotic nature and did not constitute an establishment of religion 69 Judge Stephen Reinhardt dissented writing that the state directed teacher led daily recitation in public schools of the amended under God version of the Pledge of Allegiance violates the Establishment Clause of the Constitution 71 On November 12 2010 in a unanimous decision the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston affirmed a ruling by a New Hampshire lower federal court which found that the pledge s reference to God does not violate non pledging students rights if student participation in the pledge is voluntary 72 73 A United States Supreme Court appeal of this decision was denied on June 13 2011 74 75 In September 2013 a case was brought before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court arguing that the pledge violates the Equal Rights Amendment of the Constitution of Massachusetts 76 In May 2014 Massachusetts highest court ruled that the pledge does not discriminate against atheists saying that the words under God represent a patriotic not a religious exercise 77 In February 2015 New Jersey Superior Court Judge David F Bauman dismissed a lawsuit ruling that the Pledge of Allegiance does not violate the rights of those who don t believe in God and does not have to be removed from the patriotic message 78 The case against the Matawan Aberdeen Regional School District had been brought by a student of the district and the American Humanist Association that argued that the phrase under God in the pledge created a climate of discrimination because it promoted religion making non believers second class citizens In a 21 page decision Bauman wrote Under the association members reasoning the very constitution under which the members seek redress for perceived atheistic marginalization could itself be deemed unconstitutional an absurd proposition which association members do not and cannot advance here 78 Bauman said the student could skip the pledge but upheld a New Jersey law that says pupils must recite the pledge unless they have conscientious scruples that do not allow it 79 80 He noted As a matter of historical tradition the words under God can no more be expunged from the national consciousness than the words In God We Trust from every coin in the land than the words so help me God from every presidential oath since 1789 or than the prayer that has opened every congressional session of legislative business since 1787 See also editAccommodationism and separation of church and state which provide more information surrounding under God in the pledge Australian citizenship affirmation a similar concept Ceremonial deism The Children s Story a fictional analysis of what the pledge and flag mean for children taught to recite Flag salute In God We Trust national motto of the United States Loyalty oaths in the United States Oath of Allegiance United States Youth s Companion Building where the Pledge of Allegiance was written and publishedReferences edit a b The Pledge of Allegiance Historic Documents Independence Hall Association ushistory org Archived from the original on September 27 2012 Retrieved August 29 2012 Jones Jeffrey Owen The Man Who Wrote the Pledge of Allegiance Archived January 31 2018 at the Wayback Machine Smithsonian Magazine Nov 2003 Retrieved June 14 2018 a b The Pledge of Allegiance Archived May 16 2023 at the Wayback Machine Celebrating America s Freedoms n d U S Dept of Veterans Affairs Retrieved June 14 2018 a b Title 4 Chapter 1 Section 4 US Code Archived from the original on March 26 2023 Retrieved March 30 2021 Kirkpatrick Melanie One Nation Indivisible The Wall Street Journal ISSN 0099 9660 Archived from the original on December 10 2015 Retrieved November 1 2015 Captain and Brevet Lieutenant Colonel George T Balch Ordnance Corps Hall of Fame Inductee 2001 U S Army Ordnance Corps www goordnance army mil Archived from the original on June 6 2012 Retrieved November 1 2015 Balch George Thacher 1890 Methods of teaching patriotism in the public schools being an extract from an address delivered before the teachers of the Children s Aid Society of the city of New York Harvard University New York D Van Nostrand Company Magazine Smithsonian The Man Who Wrote the Pledge of Allegiance Smithsonian Magazine Archived from the original on January 31 2018 Retrieved June 8 2022 Schaefer Jacobs Debbie October 23 2017 I Pledge Allegiance National Museum of American History Archived from the original on May 3 2022 Retrieved June 8 2022 Society amp Community Faith in America The Legal Dilemma Now with Bill Moyers PBS June 29 2002 Archived from the original on November 12 2020 Retrieved September 8 2017 The Pledge of Allegiance WVSD USCourts gov United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia Archived from the original on June 30 2022 Retrieved June 14 2021 Dress Brad April 2 2022 Here is a breakdown of laws in 47 states that require reciting the Pledge of Allegiance The Hill Archived from the original on June 7 2022 Retrieved June 7 2022 Tucker Jill March 23 2013 Many schools skip Pledge of Allegiance San Francisco Chronicle Archived from the original on March 27 2013 Retrieved September 18 2019 California state law doesn t require the recitation in schools although 45 other states do But students can t be required to say it or even stand during the pledge according to a Supreme Court decision California does require every public school to include a patriotic exercise every day which the pledge would fulfill but it s a vague requirement that s not enforced Crawford Amy September 2015 PR Gimmick to Patriotic Vow Francis Bellamy had no idea how famous and controversial his quick ditty would become Smithsonian Magazine archived from the original on October 14 2017 retrieved October 14 2017 American amp State Pledges Speck s Web November 16 2013 Archived from the original on September 4 2014 Retrieved September 4 2014 U S Code 2011 Title 4 Chap 1 Sec 4 Archived March 27 2017 at the Wayback Machine Government Printing Office Retrieved 22 September 2017 Why Do We Pledge Allegiance Boston Review Archived from the original on July 16 2022 Retrieved June 8 2022 Eller Jack David September 15 2018 Inventing American Tradition From the Mayflower to Cinco de Mayo Reaktion Books ISBN 978 1 78914 035 4 Archived from the original on March 26 2023 Retrieved June 8 2022 KEIRLE PHILIP 2012 Youth Periodicals Patriotism and the Textual Mechanics of Civic Mobilization American Periodicals 22 1 29 50 ISSN 1054 7479 JSTOR 23461238 Archived from the original on June 8 2022 Retrieved June 8 2022 a b Jehle Dr Paul June 1 2018 Under God in the Pledge of Allegiance 1954 Plymouth Rock Foundation Archived from the original on October 16 2020 Retrieved August 22 2020 George T Balch Cullum s Register 1496 penelope uchicago edu Retrieved August 22 2020 The Overland Monthly Samuel Carson January 1 1891 a b Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution January 1 1906 Pledge of Allegiance 1892 Ellis County News Republican Newspapers com May 21 1892 p 4 Archived from the original on February 24 2022 Retrieved February 24 2022 I pledge allegiance to my flag and the republic for which it stands one nation inseparable with liberty and justice for all barrypopik February 24 2022 Pledge of Allegiance on April 30 1892 Tweet via Twitter a b c Roberts Sam April 2 2022 We Know the Pledge Its Author Maybe Not The New York Times Archived from the original on April 4 2022 Retrieved April 4 2022 Kubal Timothy October 2008 Cultural Movements and Collective Memory Christopher Columbus and the Rewriting of the National Origin Myth Basingstoke Hampshire GBR Palgrave Macmillan doi 10 1057 9780230615762 ISBN 978 0 230 61576 2 Grand Lodge of BC and Yukon profile of Bellamy Freemasonry bcy ca Archived from the original on March 16 2019 Retrieved October 23 2013 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Bellamy Francis A Brief Synopsis of the Story of the Origin of the Pledge taken from the Detailed Narrative by Francis Bellamy Author of the Pledge Congressional Record 91 Cong Rec 1945 House 5510 5511 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help a b Bellamy Francis The Story of the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag Archived May 4 2010 at the Wayback Machine University of Rochester Library Bulletin Vol VIII Winter 1953 Miller Margarette S 1946 I Pledge Allegiance Christopher Publishing House Youth s companion Francis Bellamy The word to was inserted between my Flag and and the Republic in October 1892 Miller Margarette S 1976 Twenty Three Words A Biography of Francis Bellamy Author of the Pledge of Allegiance Portsmouth Vir Printcraft Press pp 63 65 ISBN 0 686 15626 9 Congressional Serial Set U S Government Printing Office January 1 1917 Proceedings of the Continental Congress of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution The Congress January 1 1915 Pub L 77 623 Chap 435 56 Stat 377 H J Res 303 enacted June 22 1942 a b c Baer John W 2007 The Pledge of Allegiance A Revised History and Analysis 1892 2007 Annapolis MD Free State Press Merriman Scott A 2007 Religion and the Law in America An Encyclopedia of Personal Belief ABC CLIO ISBN 978 1 85109 863 7 p 110 In the 18th and 19th centuries the phrase under God indicated secondary thanks or permission In modern usage the Gettysburg Address might read that the nation shall God willing have a new birth of freedom See O Malley Brian P July 22 2019 Under God Understanding its Revolutionary Usage Journal of the American Revolution Archived from the original on July 23 2019 Retrieved July 23 2019 Kruse Kevin M March 30 2015 How One Nation Didn t Become Under God Until The 50s Religious Revival NPR Archived from the original on March 8 2018 Retrieved April 4 2018 Carrie Beth Stoelting Stacie Ruth 2013 Unite the USA WestBow Press ISBN 9781490813547 The introduction of under God in the 1950s was done during the Cold War as a way to differentiate the U S from the concept of Communist state atheism Knights of Columbus Fact Sheet PDF Knights of Columbus Archived PDF from the original on June 23 2011 Retrieved June 16 2011 a b How the words Under God came to be added to the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag PDF Knights of Columbus Archived PDF from the original on September 10 2012 Retrieved October 23 2013 Broadway Bill How Under God Got in There Archived February 10 2018 at the Wayback Machine The Washington Post July 6 2002 Retrieved February 4 2018 a b Pub L 83 396 Chap 297 68 Stat 249 H J Res 243 enacted June 14 1954 God In America God in the White House PBS Archived from the original on September 9 2017 Retrieved September 8 2017 Leepson Marc 2006 Flag An American Biography Macmillan p 171 ISBN 0 312 32309 3 Rules for Rendering Hand Salute of U S Flag Military com Archived from the original on September 5 2014 Retrieved September 2 2014 When Is a Nazi Salute Not a Nazi Salute The New York Review of Books Archived from the original on August 7 2020 Retrieved July 25 2020 Solons to Plug ASCAP Cleffing Billboard April 20 1957 Pledge Now In Public Domain Billboard September 19 1960 Irving Caesar Welcome irvingcaesar com Archived from the original on July 19 2017 Retrieved July 2 2017 Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag H Con Res 161 Statute 69 Pages B24 B25 Concurrent Resolutions July 26 1955 PDF Archived PDF from the original on August 1 2017 Retrieved July 2 2017 U S Copyright Office Copyright search for The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag Archived from the original on September 19 2020 Retrieved July 2 2017 West Virginia State Board of Education v Barnette 319 U S 624 642 U S Supreme Court 1943 a b Holloman ex rel Holloman v Harland 370 F 3d 1252 11th Cir 2004 Lane v Owens 03 B 1544 United States District Court District of Colorado Robinson Nathan J June 25 2018 I can t believe they still make students recite the Pledge of Allegiance Current Affairs Archived from the original on March 19 2019 Retrieved March 8 2019 Olander Herbert T December 1941 Children s Knowledge of the Flag Salute The Journal of Educational Research 35 4 300 305 doi 10 1080 00220671 1941 10881086 JSTOR 27528245 Court upholds under God in Pledge of Allegiance Associated Press March 11 2010 Archived from the original on March 16 2010 Retrieved March 11 2010 The Dangerous Fallacy of Ceremonial Deism Governmental religious expressions are not harmless Psychology Today May 24 2012 Nunberg Geoffrey June 20 2004 I Might Have Guessed Parson Weems Would Figure In There Somewhere Language Log Archived from the original on April 26 2007 Retrieved May 3 2007 Nunberg Geoffrey June 20 2004 Next Under God Phrasal Idiom Language Log Archived from the original on April 26 2007 Retrieved May 3 2007 Jehovah s Witnesses Proclaimers of God s Kingdom Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York 1993 pp 196 197 Archived June 16 2020 at the Wayback Machine Rosenberg Ian 2021 The Fight for Free Speech Ten Cases That Define Our First Amendment Freedoms New York NYU Press ISBN 978 1479801565 Kravets David September 16 2005 Federal judge rules Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional The Chicago Defender archived from the original on January 11 2006 retrieved March 31 2008 Frazier v Alexandre 434 F Supp 2d 1350 S D Fla May 31 2006 Frazier v Alexandre No 05 81142 S D Fla May 31 2006 National School Boards Association March 15 2011 Archived from the original on March 15 2011 Johnson Jenna February 24 2010 Pledge of Allegiance dispute results in Md teacher having to apologize The Washington Post Archived from the original on August 5 2011 Retrieved February 25 2010 a b Chea Terence March 12 2010 Fed appeals court upholds under God in pledge Associated Press Archived from the original on March 15 2010 Retrieved March 12 2010 Newdow vs Rio Linda Union School District 9th Cir March 12 2010 Text Pledge of Allegiance s God reference now upheld by court LA Times March 12 2010 Archived from the original on January 16 2011 Retrieved January 11 2011 Freedom from Religion Foundation v Hanover School District 1st Cir November 12 2010 Text Lavoie Denise November 15 2010 Court OKs NH law allowing God pledge in schools The Boston Globe Boston MA Christopher M Mayer Archived from the original on November 19 2010 Retrieved November 16 2010 The constitutionality of a New Hampshire law Egelko Bob June 15 2011 High court spurns atheist s under God challenge San Francisco Chronicle San Francisco CA Hearst Corporation A Sacramento atheist s challenge to the addition of under God to the Pledge of Allegiance Supreme Court of the United States June 13 2011 Freedom From Religion Foundation Petitioner v United States et al Supreme Court of the United States Archived from the original on September 4 2015 Retrieved June 15 2011 Under God part of Pledge of Allegiance under review in Massachusetts CNN com September 4 2013 Archived from the original on November 5 2013 Retrieved October 23 2013 Massachusetts court rules under God in pledge does not discriminate against atheists The Washington Post May 9 2014 ISSN 0190 8286 Archived from the original on April 25 2015 Retrieved February 13 2016 a b Under God is not discriminatory and will stay in pledge judge says NJ com February 7 2015 Archived from the original on June 13 2015 Retrieved June 12 2015 Rizzo Salvador Hearing Under God in Pledge of Allegiance does not violate rights of atheist students NJ judge rules NorthJersey com Archived from the original on March 10 2016 Retrieved February 29 2016 Judge Refuses To Kick God Out Of Public Schools Forbes February 7 2015 Archived from the original on February 29 2016 Retrieved February 29 2016 Further reading editMartin Leisa A May June 2008 Examining the Pledge of Allegiance Social Studies 99 3 127 131 doi 10 3200 tsss 99 3 127 131 S2CID 144498218 Baer John W 2007 The Pledge of Allegiance A Revised History and Analysis 1892 2007 Free State Press Inc ISBN 978 0 9650620 2 2 Excerpt Chapter Eight Under God and Other Questions About the Pledge Ellis Richard J 2005 To the Flag The Unlikely History of the Pledge of Allegiance Lawrence University of Kansas Press ISBN 0 7006 1372 2 Leepson Marc 2005 Flag An American Biography Thomas Dunne Books St Martin s Press ISBN 0 312 32308 5 Kruse Kevin M 2015 One Nation Under God How Corporate America Invented Christian America Basic Books ISBN 0465049494 External links editPledge of Allegiance at Wikipedia s sister projects nbsp Media from Commons nbsp News from Wikinews nbsp Quotations from Wikiquote nbsp Texts from Wikisource 4 U S C 4 Docherty s Sermon Manuscript Feb 7 1954 Minister Reprises Under God Sermon Francis Julius Bellamy papers A B43 and the David Bellamy papers D 147 both located in Rare Books Special Collections and Preservation River Campus Libraries University of Rochester The David Bellamy papers are primarily concerned with the controversy surrounding the authorship of the Pledge Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Pledge of Allegiance amp oldid 1189609329, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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