History of the Pledge of Allegiance


 History of the Pledge

 

 

The earliest version of the Pledge of Allegiance was written in August, 1892, by newspaperman Francis Bellamy, an admitted Socialist, and appeared The Youth’s Companion on September 8th. The pledge was first recited in public at a Columbus Day program on October 12, 1892, marking the 400th anniversary of Columbus's discovery of America. Some years later, the words “of the United States of America” were added after the word “flag” to create a sense of national loyalty among immigrants who chose America as their new home. The words “under God,” taken from Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, were not in the original pledge. The words were added by an act of Congress in 1954. When President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) signed this act, he said, in part: “In this somber setting, this law and its effects today have profound meaning. 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.” On June 14 of the same year President Eisenhower stood on the steps of the Capitol Building and, for the first time, recited the revised pledge to the flag that included the phrase “one nation under God,” a rebuke to the atheism of Communism that posed as America’s greatest worldview threat at the time.

 

 

American Vision P.O. Box 220, Powder Springs, GA 30127, 800-628-9460, www.americanvision.org . History Unwrapped by Gary DeMar.

 

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