During a recent trip to visit my daughter and her family, my granddaughter, Penelope, was excited to show me that she’d learned The Pledge of Allegiance.
As I watched and listened, I wondered how long it had been since I recited the pledge — decades? Penelope is only 3 (though she always insists I add, “and-a-half!”), so I’m pretty sure she doesn’t understand the meaning behind the words. Admittedly, nor did I when I first memorized the pledge. My fellow classmates and I would rotely recite the words each morning, with hardly a thought to their meaning.
But as I listened to Penelope, several phrases caught my attention and inspired me to think more deeply about the pledge. So, over the next couple of weeks, as we approach the 250th anniversary of our independence, I’ll post my thoughts on a few of those phrases.
I’ll start with a post about the history of the Pledge of Allegiance.
The very first pledge was written in 1885 by Union Army officer, Captain George Thatcher Balch:
“We give our heads and our hearts to God and our country; one country, one language, one flag.”
According the History.com, “Several schools adopted Balch’s pledge, but it was soon supplanted by a salute composed by Francis Bellamy, a Christian socialist and former Baptist minister. In 1892, while working for a magazine called The Youth’s Companion, Bellamy was enlisted to write a new pledge for use in patriotic celebrations surrounding the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the New World. The magazine partnered with schools to encourage flag ceremonies and sold American flags as part of the initiative.”
Even Bellamy’s version underwent many changes over the years:
Interesting Tidbits:
- According the History.com, prior to 1942 when Congress officially adopted the pledge and decreed it should be recited while holding the right hand over the heart, the pledge was recited using a “Bellamy salute,” where the right arm was extended toward the flag with the hand outstretched. Sound familiar?
. . . but with the rise of fascism in Europe, many felt the gesture too closely resembled a Nazi salute. ~ History.com, Evan Andrews
- Today, 46 states require public schools to recite the pledge. The four states that do not are Hawaii, Iowa, Vermont, and Wyoming. (SmithsonianMag.com, Amy Crawford)
- In a case brought by Jehovah’s Witness families in 1943, (West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette,) the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public schools could not force students to recite the pledge or salute the flag.
