THE FLAG and THE PLEDGE

My plan was to write two in-depth blogs; one about the mandatory pledge to the flag and the other regarding the meeting opening prayer. However the search on the Internet was notable for the lack of data beyond the ending of the 19^th century.

It seems in the overall stream of time that the Flag sauté and Pledge of Allegiance is a relatively recent phenomenon.

In fact it is believed that there was no formal covenant to the flag prior to 1892 when in the September 8^th, 1892 issue of the magazine “The Youth Companion” owned and edited by Daniel Ford; Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister who due, to his Socialist sermons had lost his pulpit first published the Pledge of Allegiance as part of a National Public School Celebration of the 400^th anniversary of Columbus arrival in the Americas,

James Upham who had an interest in a factory that made flags had conceived of the idea for the celebration. He used the pledge as a marketing gimmick, perhaps with the intention to have the children put pressure on the schools to buy flags. There apparently was no prior saluting the flag ritual in the public school systems or at public events.

At the time the Pledge appeared in print; Upham had developed instructions which specified that, “At a signal from the Principal, the pupils, in ordered ranks, hands to the side, face the Flag. Another signal is given; every pupil gives the Flag the military salute—right hand lifted, palm downward, to a line with the forehead and close to it. Standing thus, all repeat [the Pledge] together, slowly. At the words, ‘to my Flag,’ the right hand is extended gracefully, palm upward, towards the Flag, and remains in this gesture till the end of the affirmation; whereupon all hands immediately drop to the side.”**

For the next fifty years, there were several variations on the salute (most captured in historic photographs), but no standardized or officially sanctioned form. Some people held their right hand to their foreheads in a military salute for the entire address. Some modified the military salute by holding the right hand against the heart, open palm downward. Some laid their right hand over their heart; a man removed any hat he was wearing and held it over his heart, and some held the right hand on an outstretched arm towards the flag, palm up, palm sideways, or palm down.

The original pledge was:"I pledge allegiance to my Flag, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, and justice for all.”

In 1923 and 1924 the National Flag Conference, under the 'leadership of the American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution, changed the Pledge's words, 'my Flag,' to 'the Flag of the United States of America

In 1942 Congress for the first time formally adopted it as the Pledge.

The introduction of "under God" in the 1950s was done during the Cold War, as a way to differentiate the U.S. from the concept of communist atheism. The Knights of Columbus were one of the strongest lobbyers for this change.

However that addition changed the nature of the pledge into a religious prayer. That has been the impetus for numerous Supreme Court decisions. I will not go into detail here but they are well documented in Wikipedia’

Some religious sects; specifically the Jehovah Witness sued on the basis that the pledge was a religious action toward an idol; the flag. The Courts have upheld their right not to stand and pledge to the flag.

The net result is that it is illegal to not only force school children to say the pledge but to make it an obligation for anyone to recite or even stand for the pledge.

It must be realized that there is nothing to prevent one who would damage this country from standing and saluting a flag that he would destroy. I would suspect that according to the Southern Poverty Law Center there are numerous “Racist or Hate” groups in the State of New Jersey who would violate citizen’s constitutional rights or even the integrity of our nation; that there may be those in our community who adhere to such feelings publicly yet go through the motions attributed to model citizens.

** That exact wording appears in a leaflet, “How to Give the Salute to the Flag,” issued to public schools by The Youth’s Companion, at the direction of James Upham, in 1894.