The Pledge of Allegiance

By Isabella Pena

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The Pledge of Allegiance most American students repeat every morning is something ingrained in our brains, but did you know that it is around 133 years old?

Originally made by Francis Bellamy, Baptist minister and Democratic-Socialist, the pledge was published with the intention for not only American students to recite, but for any person no matter what country you were in. Since then, there have been (2) two additions. The original Pledge of Allegiance read as follows:

I pledge allegiance to my flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, 

indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Looks different than what you’re probably used to, doesn't it? A few small word swaps and replacements, but the meaning is different than what is told to us today. We have to wait 31 more years until the next change, which is in 1923 changed “my flag” to “the Flag of the United States”. This is because of the push of multiple groups around the U.S, claiming that immigrants need to know what flag they are pledging allegiance to; 1923 marked when the Pledge of Allegiance stopped applying to everyone and their country, being limited to only Americans and its citizens. 

Another 31 years later during 1954, the pledge was changed once again around the time of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, when fear of communism ran rampant through America. The President of the time himself, President Eisenhower, was the one to urge the new edition of religion in the Pledge of Allegiance. Even though the original maker of the pledge was a religious worker himself, Bellamy firmly believed in separation of the church and the state. Two words, “under God”, were added to the pledge, being the final revision of the Pledge of Allegiance we know today. Many claim and approve of his decision to add religion, to ‘separate’ themselves from godless and irreligious communists. Now, the current pledge we know is:

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.