The Pledge of Allegiance

Do you know who wrote the original "Pledge of Allegiance" to the flag?

It was originally written by Frances Bellamy in 1892. Who was he? He was a Baptist minister, a Christian Socialist, and cousin of socialist utopian novelist Edwin Bellamy. The original "Pledge of Allegiance" was published in a popular child's magazine, The Youths Companion, as part of a national public school celebration of Columbus Day celebrating the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Columbus in the Americas. The event was promoted by James Upham, a marketer of the magazine, as a campaign to instill American nationalism by selling flags to schools and magazines to students. Swearing of the Pledge was accompanied by a salute. The early version adopted in 1892 was known as the "Bellamy Salute." It started with the hand outstretched toward the flag, palm down, and ended with palm up. When I was a school kid in the 1930's this was the salute commonly accepted as we recited the pledge at the beginning of each school day. Because of the similarity of the Bellamy Salute to the Nazi salute, developed later, President Roosevelt in December 1942 instituted the hand-on-the-heart gesture as the salute.

The pledge was formally adopted by Congress as the national pledge in 1942. It has been modified four times since its original compilation. The most recent change added the words "under God" in 1954.