The Flag of the United States of America. - Messenger Staff
I pledge allegiance,
to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it
stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
These 31 words show
our pride in our country, and how we are loyal. The first words of the pledge
showed in “The Youth’s Companion” on September 8, 1892. A month after it was
let out, 12 million school children started to recite it across the nation:
I pledge allegiance
to my flag, and to the republic for which it stands: one nation indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.
It started to become
a routine in schools after the Columbus Day celebration. Nobody really paid
attention to it though for about 25 years. On June 14, 1923, Flag Day, adults
that had gathered for the first National Flag Conference in Washington D.C.
started to pay more attention towards these words. The conference started to
take more notes on the wording. Concern of the words ‘My flag’ might not make
sense to immigrants now living in the United States. They changed it to:
I pledge allegiance
to the flag of the United States, and to the republic for which it stands: one
nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
A year later the
wording once again changed to:
I pledge allegiance
to the flag of the United States of
America, and to the republic for which it stands: one nation indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.
The Pledge of
Allegiance started to gain more attention from the adults after World War II,
and continued to be recited by children in school. Until June 22, 1942, the
pledge was unofficial until the United States Congress included the pledge into
the United States Flag Code. This being the first official seal of approval
given to the words that children across the nation had been reciting for almost
fifty years. One year after the approval the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that
children in school could not be forced to recite the Pledge every day. In 1945
the pledge finally received its name as: The Pledge of Allegiance.
It may seem finished,
but there still is something missing. The last change happened on June 14,
1954. President Dwight D. Eisenhower accepted adding the words ‘under God’.
This was the last change made to the Pledge of Allegiance. The 23 words that
used to be said on Columbus day are now 31 words of devotion and loyalty to the
flag, and America.