| 8. In which year was the American Pledge of Allegiance rewritten to include the phrase "under God"? |
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1954 1923 1892 1969 The original pledge was written in August 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister, and first cousin of Edward Bellamy, author of the American socialist utopian novels, Looking Backward and Equality. Francis was a Christian Socialist. He was also deeply affected by his literary cousin's philosophies. The Pledge was published in the September 8th issue of "The Youth's Companion", the leading family magazine 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. In 1892, Francis Bellamy became 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 of the same year. He structured this public school program around a flag raising ceremony and a flag salute - his "Pledge of Allegiance." The original Pledge 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.' 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. 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. Again during the height of the Cold War, when McCarthyism hysteria gripped the land, the National Reform Association and religious institutions saw that the time was ripe to make their move. In the typically hysterical language of the day, the Committee on the Judiciary published on May 10, 1954, that "...one of the greatest differences between the free world and the Communists, [is] a belief in God." It was urged that the Pledge of Allegiance be altered to recognize god. PS 623 (77th Cong., 56 Stat.) effectuated that end. And so, in 1954, Congress 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. A few liberals recite a slightly revised version of Bellamy's original Pledge: "I pledge allegiance to my Flag, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with equality, liberty and justice for all." Thanks in part to: Historical Records of Tisbury, Mass. (http://www.vineyard.net/vineyard/history/pledge.htm) |
The second issue is the plagarism.