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Francis
Bellamy (1855 - 1931), a Baptist minister, wrote
the original Pledge in August 1892. He was a Christian
Socialist. In his Pledge, he is expressing the
ideas of his first cousin, Edward Bellamy, author
of the American socialist utopian novels, Looking
Backward (1888) and Equality
(1897).
Francis
Bellamy in his sermons and lectures and Edward
Bellamy in his novels and articles described in
detail how the middle class could create a planned
economy with political, social and economic equality
for all. The government would run a peace time
economy similar to our present military industrial
complex.
The
Pledge was published in the September 8th issue
of The Youth's Companion, the
leading family magazine and the Reader's
Digest of its day. Its owner and editor,
Daniel Ford, had hired Francis in 1891 as his
assistant when Francis was pressured into leaving
his baptist church in Boston because of his socialist
sermons. As a member of his congregation, Ford
had enjoyed Francis's sermons. Ford later founded
the liberal and often controversial Ford Hall
Forum, located in downtown Boston.
In
1892 Francis Bellamy was also a chairman of a
committee of state superintendents of education
in the National Education Association. As its
chairman, he prepared the program for the public
schools' quadricentennial celebration for Columbus
Day in 1892. He structured this public school
program around a flag raising ceremony and a flag
salute - his 'Pledge of Allegiance.'
His
original Pledge read as follows: 'I pledge allegiance
to my Flag and (to*) the Republic for which it
stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty
and justice for all.' He considered placing the
word, 'equality,' in his Pledge, but knew that
the state superintendents of education on his
committee were against equality for women and
African Americans. [* 'to' added in October, 1892.]
Dr.
Mortimer Adler, American philosopher and last
living founder of the Great Books program at Saint
John's College, has analyzed these ideas in his
book, The Six Great Ideas. He
argues that the three great ideas of the American
political tradition are 'equality, liberty and
justice for all.' 'Justice' mediates between the
often conflicting goals of 'liberty' and 'equality.'
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.' Bellamy disliked
this change, but his protest was ignored.
In
1954, Congress after a campaign by the Knights
of Columbus, added the words, 'under God,' to
the Pledge. The Pledge was now both a patriotic
oath and a public prayer.
Bellamy's
granddaughter said he also would have resented
this second change. He had been pressured into
leaving his church in 1891 because of his socialist
sermons. In his retirement in Florida, he stopped
attending church because he disliked the racial
bigotry he found there
The
Pledge:
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. |
