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.
In 1892, in honor of the four hundredth anniversary of
Christopher Columbus' arrival in the New World, President
Benjamin Harrison proclaimed a national school celebration. For
the occasion, Francis Bellamy, of Boston, Massachusetts, felt
that the nation's school children should state a simple, yet
heartfelt patriotic pledge, one that would be a part of a flag-
raising ceremony. The now familiar Pledge of Allegiance was the
result, and it first appeared in the September 1892 issue of The
Youth's Companion, of which Bellamy was editor. On Columbus
Day of that year, children first recited America's Pledge of
Allegiance in classrooms across the country.
The Pledge has undergone some revisions in the past one
hundred years. The original version was lengthened in 1923 and
again in 1924. After the United States entered the second World
War, Congress established guidelines for the treatment of the
national flag, and included formal guidelines concerning reciting
the Pledge of Allegiance. The proper position for reciting the
pledge included standing with one's right hand over one's heart
or, in the case of military personnel, at attention. Men were to
remove their hats, and uniformed personnel were to salute. The
year 1954 brought another revision to the Pledge when Congress
voted to add two words: "under God." The Pledge was now not
only a patriotic declaration, but a public prayer as well, one that
all Americans continue to recite with pride.
