The Pledge of Allegiance

By Isabella Pena

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    The Pledge of Allegiance, which most of us repeat every morning, has been ingrained in our brains, but did you know that it is around 133 years old?

Originally written by Francis Bellamy, a 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 they 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 a little different than what you’re probably used to, doesn't it? A few small word swaps and replacements, but the meaning is different. 

   We had to wait 31 more years until the next change, which was in 1923, when “my flag” became “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 which flag they are pledging allegiance to. 1923 marked the time when the Pledge of Allegiance stopped applying to everyone and their country, being limited to only Americans and their citizens. 

    Thirty-one years later, in 1954, the pledge was changed once again. This was around the time of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, when fear of communism ran rampant throughout America. The President at the time, President Dwhite D. Eisenhower, was the one who urged the new version to mention “religion” in the Pledge of Allegiance. Even though the original author of the pledge was a religious worker himself, Bellamy firmly believed in the separation of church and state. Two words, “under God”, were added to the pledge, creating 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. 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.