Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States (From
Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia)
Oath of loyalty to the U.S. national emblem and to the nation it
symbolizes. The idea for such a pledge is said to have originated
with one of the editors of The Youth's Companion, a magazine for
children. By proclamation of President Benjamin Harrison, the
pledge was first used on October 12, 1892, during Columbus Day
observances in the public schools. The original wording of the
pledge was 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.
The pledge was amended subsequently by the substitution of the
words _the flag of the United States of America_ for the phrase
_my flag._ The newly worded pledge was adopted officially on Flag
Day, June 14, 1924. By joint resolution of Congress the pledge
was further amended in 1954 by the addition of the words _under
God._ This is how the pledge now reads:
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.
When reciting the pledge of allegiance, civilians should stand at
attention or with the right hand over the heart. Men should
remove their hats. Armed services personnel in uniform face the
flag and give the military salute.
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And some historical-analytical queries:
Why was it proposed and adopted in the first place, and why only
in 1892? Could it be that in this period of massive immigration,
conservative Americans worried about immigrant children's
loyalty?
Was the 1924 ammendment the result of a worry that 'my flag'
might mean, for the student, a flag other than that of the US?
Was this period another highpoint of American xenophobia?
I do know the political state of America in 1954, and so I wonder
if 'Under God' was added, not for specifically religious reasons,
but to distinguish our Christian polity from 'Godless, atheistic
Communism' -- a favorite phrase of the evildoers of the time?
I never knew that the Pledge was specifically created for use in
schools by students. Was this part of the 'nation-building' that
Arthur Schlesinger praises in contrast to the divisiveness of
multicultural curricula and contemporary scholarly accounts of
diverse Americans in history?
A recent front-page story in the New York Times was headlined:
Congress votes stiff new curbs on immigration. -- Are there such
things as repeating patterns in the history of a community?
dynamical linkages that are relatively invariant along its
trajectory, despite the historical uniqueness of each instance?
Is this an aspect of the 'culture' of the community, and how do
we need to define the historical specificity of culture once it
is no longer a static-synoptic notion (i.e. culture-now vs.
culture-through-history, culture as historical product, vs
culture as feature along a specific historical trajectory)?
JAY.
JAY LEMKE.
City University of New York.
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