Editing Pledge of Allegiance (section)

== Origins ==
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.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Why Do We Pledge Allegiance? |url=https://bostonreview.net/articles/jack-david-eller-pledge-allegiance/ |access-date=June 8, 2022 |website=Boston Review |language=en-US |archive-date=July 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716014315/https://bostonreview.net/articles/jack-david-eller-pledge-allegiance/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Eller |first=Jack David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k5xjDwAAQBAJ |title=Inventing American Tradition: From the Mayflower to Cinco de Mayo |date=September 15, 2018 |publisher=Reaktion Books |isbn=978-1-78914-035-4 |language=en |access-date=June 8, 2022 |archive-date=March 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164823/https://books.google.com/books?id=k5xjDwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=KEIRLE |first=PHILIP |date=2012 |title=Youth Periodicals, Patriotism, and the Textual Mechanics of Civic Mobilization |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23461238 |journal=American Periodicals |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=29–50 |jstor=23461238 |issn=1054-7479 |access-date=June 8, 2022 |archive-date=June 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220608211308/https://www.jstor.org/stable/23461238 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Balch pledge ===
[[File:George Thatcher Balch (1828-1894).jpg|thumb|Captain George T. Balch wrote an early pledge of allegiance.]]
[[File:Portrait of Francis Bellamy 01.jpg|thumb|Reverend Francis Bellamy wrote the version that became official.]]
An early pledge was created in 1887 by Captain George T. Balch,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Jehle|first=Dr Paul|date=June 1, 2018|title="Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance – 1954|url=https://plymrock.org/under-god-in-the-pledge-of-allegiance-1954/|access-date=August 22, 2020|website=Plymouth Rock Foundation|language=en-US|archive-date=October 16, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201016213348/https://plymrock.org/under-god-in-the-pledge-of-allegiance-1954/|url-status=live}}</ref> a veteran of the Civil War, who later became auditor of the New York Board of Education.<ref>{{Cite web|title=George T. Balch • Cullum's Register • 1496|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/United_States/Army/USMA/Cullums_Register/1496*.html|access-date=August 22, 2020|website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref> Balch's pledge, which was recited contemporaneously with Bellamy's until the 1923 National Flag Conference, read:<ref name=":0" />

{{Blockquote|We give our heads and hearts to God and our country; one country, one language, one flag!|author=|title=|source=}}

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.<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Overland Monthly|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=prVUAAAAYAAJ|publisher = Samuel Carson|date = January 1, 1891}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":1" />

=== Bellamy pledge ===
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]]''. Francis Bellamy, who was a [[Baptist]] minister, a [[Christian socialist]],<ref name="Kubal">{{cite book|last=Kubal|first=Timothy|title=Cultural Movements and Collective Memory: Christopher Columbus and the Rewriting of the National Origin Myth|date=October 2008|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-0-230-61576-2|location=Basingstoke, Hampshire, GBR|doi=10.1057/9780230615762}}</ref><ref name="Mason">{{cite web|title=Grand Lodge of BC and Yukon profile of Bellamy|url=http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/bellamy_f/bellamy_f.html|access-date=October 23, 2013|publisher=Freemasonry.bcy.ca|archive-date=March 16, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190316155710/http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/bellamy_f/bellamy_f.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and the cousin of [[Edward Bellamy]] (1850–1898), described the text of Balch's pledge as "too juvenile and lacking in dignity."<ref name="Synopsis" /> 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.<ref name="The Story">Bellamy, Francis, "[http://www.lib.rochester.edu/index.cfm?PAGE=3418 The Story of the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100504061201/http://www.lib.rochester.edu/index.cfm?PAGE=3418 |date=May 4, 2010 }}," ''University of Rochester Library Bulletin'', Vol. VIII, Winter 1953.</ref> 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.{{'"}}<ref>{{cite book|title=I Pledge Allegiance|first=Margarette S.|last=Miller|publisher=Christopher Publishing House, Youth's companion|year=1946}}</ref> 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, New York|Mount Morris]].<ref name="Roberts2022"/>

Bellamy's original Pledge :
{{Blockquote|I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.<ref name=ushistory>{{cite web|title=The Pledge of Allegiance|url=http://www.ushistory.org/documents/pledge.htm|work=Historic Documents|publisher=Independence Hall Association: ushistory.org|access-date=29 August 2012|archive-date=September 27, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927025409/http://www.ushistory.org/documents/pledge.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[[Francis Bellamy]] – The word "to" was inserted between "my Flag and" and "the Republic" in October 1892.</ref>}}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''<ref name="The Story" /> 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 [[Benjamin Harrison|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]].<ref>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}}</ref>

===Francis Bellamy's account===
In his recollection of the creation of the Pledge, Francis Bellamy said, "At the beginning of the nineties patriotism and national feeling was <i>[sic]</i> at a low ebb. The patriotic ardor of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] was an old story&nbsp;... 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."<ref name="Synopsis">{{cite journal|title=A Brief Synopsis of the Story of the Origin of the Pledge taken from the Detailed Narrative by Francis Bellamy, Author of the Pledge|first=Francis |last=Bellamy |journal=Congressional Record|publisher= Congressional Record 91 Cong. Rec. (1945) House |pages=5510–5511}}</ref> James Upham "felt that a flag should be on every schoolhouse,"<ref name="Synopsis" /> 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).<ref name="Synopsis" />

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&nbsp;... would have a flag raising, under the most impressive conditions."<ref name="Synopsis" /> 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."<ref name="Synopsis" /> 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."<ref name="Synopsis" /> Bellamy recalled that the event "had to be more than a list of exercises. The ritual must be prepared with simplicity and dignity."<ref name="Synopsis" />

Edna Dean Proctor wrote an ode for the event: "There was also an oration suitable for declamation."<ref name="Synopsis" /> 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."<ref name="Synopsis" /> 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."<ref name="Synopsis" /> 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'. ...&nbsp;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.{{'"}}<ref name="Synopsis" /> 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."<ref name="Synopsis" /> 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."<ref name="Synopsis" />

Bellamy considered the slogan of the [[French Revolution]], {{Lang|fr|[[Liberté, égalité, fraternité]]}} ("liberty, equality, fraternity"), but held that "fraternity was too remote of realization, and … [that] equality was a dubious word."<ref name="Synopsis" /> 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."<ref name="Synopsis" />

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."<ref name="Synopsis" /> Bellamy disliked the change, as "it did injure the rhythmic balance of the original composition."<ref name="Synopsis" />

=== Contested Authorship of the Pledge ===
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. A May 1892 newspaper from [[Hays, Kansas]] reported on an April 30 school flag-raising that was accompanied by an almost identical pledge.<ref>{{multiref|{{cite web |title=Pledge of Allegiance (1892). |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96314797/pledge-of-allegiance-1892/ |website=Ellis County News Republican |publisher=[[Newspapers.com]] |access-date=February 24, 2022 |pages=4 |date=May 21, 1892 |quote=I pledge allegiance to my flag and the republic for which it stands; one nation inseparable with liberty and justice for all. |archive-date=February 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220224161952/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96314797/pledge-of-allegiance-1892/ |url-status=live }}|{{cite tweet|user=barrypopik|number=1496783059756195841|date=February 24, 2022|title="Pledge of Allegiance" on April 30, 1892?}}}}</ref><ref name="Roberts2022" /> This ceremony would have taken place months before Francis supposedly created the pledge during August of that same year, according to his own testimony.<ref name="Roberts2022" /> The discovery was made by the noted amateur lexicographer [[Barry Popik]], who collaborated with [[Fred Shapiro]], an associate library director at the Yale School of Law.<ref name="Roberts2022" /> Shapiro previously attributed the pledge to Francis Bellamy in ''[[The Yale Book of Quotations]]'', which he edits, but now regards Popik's discovery as favoring Frank E. Bellamy rather than Francis Bellamy as the originator and intends to update future versions of the book to reflect this.<ref name="Roberts2022" />