Post by Administrator on Jun 28, 2002 0:48:09 GMT -5
The Pledge of Allegiance was around for 50 years before the federal government got involved in it.
It was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, 37, a Baptist minister from New York. Bellamy was the chairman of the National Education Association's committee for the observance of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' landing. He also was an assistant to the editor and owner of The Youth's Companion, a popular weekly magazine of the time.
Bellamy built the anniversary celebration for schoolchildren around a flag ceremony, and he built the flag ceremony around his Pledge of Allegiance, which was published in The Youth's Companion on Sept. 8.
It wasn't even exclusively for the flag of the USA, says John Baer of Annapolis, Md., who wrote a history of the Pledge.
''Bellamy wanted it as an international peace pledge, so he hoped that all the republics . . . on their peace day, would put a white border around their flag and recite it as a pledge,'' Baer says.
The wording of the original Pledge has been amended twice. The first time was in 1923-24. The American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution wanted to make the Pledge mandatory in schools.
''They thought it was too international,'' Baer says, so they changed ''to my flag'' to ''to the flag of the United States of America.''
''Under God'' was added by Congress in 1954 after a two-year campaign begun by the Knights of Columbus, a Roman Catholic service group.
Congress got involved first in 1942, when it passed a law making the Pledge part of the official flag-raising ritual. Congress also changed the original salute -- a military salute to the forehead followed by a stiff right arm with palm up -- to the hand over the heart.
It was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, 37, a Baptist minister from New York. Bellamy was the chairman of the National Education Association's committee for the observance of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' landing. He also was an assistant to the editor and owner of The Youth's Companion, a popular weekly magazine of the time.
Bellamy built the anniversary celebration for schoolchildren around a flag ceremony, and he built the flag ceremony around his Pledge of Allegiance, which was published in The Youth's Companion on Sept. 8.
It wasn't even exclusively for the flag of the USA, says John Baer of Annapolis, Md., who wrote a history of the Pledge.
''Bellamy wanted it as an international peace pledge, so he hoped that all the republics . . . on their peace day, would put a white border around their flag and recite it as a pledge,'' Baer says.
The wording of the original Pledge has been amended twice. The first time was in 1923-24. The American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution wanted to make the Pledge mandatory in schools.
''They thought it was too international,'' Baer says, so they changed ''to my flag'' to ''to the flag of the United States of America.''
''Under God'' was added by Congress in 1954 after a two-year campaign begun by the Knights of Columbus, a Roman Catholic service group.
Congress got involved first in 1942, when it passed a law making the Pledge part of the official flag-raising ritual. Congress also changed the original salute -- a military salute to the forehead followed by a stiff right arm with palm up -- to the hand over the heart.
