-- United States
On
this day in 1945, U.S. Congress officially recognized the Pledge of
Allegiance as an American flag salute. The original pledge was
written by Baptist minister Francis Bellamy half a century before,
for a public school program. Bellamy apparently never considered
putting in a line about God (the words “under God” were added to
the pledge in the 1950s), but he did want to include the word
“equality.” Because Bellamy knew that powerful people who would
see the program were against equality for women and for black people,
he backed off from his good idea and simply wrote:
“I
pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands,
one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
 |
| Did you know that in Bellamy's day (late 1800s and early 1900s), children saluted the flag with a straight, upraised arm? Can you guess why that was changed to another quite different salute? |
In
the 1920s, the National Flag Conference changed Bellamy's words “my
Flag” to the phrase “the Flag of the United States of America.” Bellamy disliked the change and protested it. Bellamy's
granddaughter has said that he would also have resented the addition
of the words “under God.” Apparently he had been pressured into leaving his
job of minister because of his socialist ideas; eventually he left the
Baptist church altogether.
Some
people want to change the pledge to a version close to Bellamy's
original concept:
“I
pledge allegiance to my Flag, and to the Republic for which it
stands, one nation, indivisible, with equality, liberty, and justice
for all.”
(These court decisions were in response to children whose families
were Jehovah's Witness. The kids felt that reciting the pledge would
go against the teachings of their religion—but they were expelled
from school for their refusal to participate. Some school kids today
who don't participate in reciting the pledge say that their refusal
is due to the fact that they do not believe in God, and don't want to
pledge with the words “under God.”)
Also
on this date:
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