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The Guild 6-27-2002 The History of Our Pledge of Allegiance
6-27-2002
Posted on 06/27/2002 4:55:53 PM PDT by BigWaveBetty
The Pledge of Allegiance

On September 8, 1892 a Boston-based youth magazine "The Youth's Companion" published a 22-word recitation for school children to use during planned activities the following month to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of America. Under the title "The Pledge to the Flag", the composition was the earliest version of what we now know as the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE.
The October 11, 1892 Columbus Day celebration of the 400th Anniversary of the discovery of America was planned for years in advance, and anticipated much as modern Americans look forward to and plan for the advent of a new century. The United States had recovered from most of the effects of its Civil War that began 30 years earlier, and people from around the world were flocking to the "Land of Opportunity". The previous year almost a half million immigrants had entered the United States through the Barge Office in Battery Park, New York and on New Years day of 1892 the new Federal Bureau of Receiving's station at Ellis Island had opened.
Two men interested in both education and planned Columbus Day celebrations around our Nation's 44 states were Francis Bellamy and James Upham. To this day it is still unknown which of the two men actually authored the words that were to become the Pledge of Allegiance. It was published anonymously and not copyrighted. James Upham was an employee of the Boston publishing firm that produced "The Youth's Companion" in which it first appeared. Francis Bellamy was an educator who served as chairman of the National committee of educators and civic leaders who were planning the Columbus Day activities. What we do know for certain is that the words first appeared in the September 8, 1892 issue of "The Youth's Companion", and a month later more than 12 million school children recited the words for the first time in schools across the nation. Our Pledge of Allegiance was born, but like anything new, it took many years to "reach maturity", and underwent several changes along the way. That first Pledge of Allegiance read:
I pledge allegiance to my Flag,
and to the Republic for which it stands:
one Nation indivisible,
With Liberty and Justice for all.
October 11, 1892
After the Columbus Day celebration the Pledge to the Flag became a popular daily routine in America's public schools, but gained little attention elsewhere for almost 25 years. Finally, on Flag Day - June 14, 1923, the Pledge received major attention from adults who had gathered for the first National Flag Conference in Washington, D.C. Here their Conference agenda took note of the wording in the Pledge. There was concern that, with the number of immigrants now living in the United States, there might be some confusion when the words "My Flag" were recited. To correct this the pledge was altered to read:
I pledge allegiance to my the
Flag of the United States,
and to the Republic for which it stands:
one Nation indivisible,
With Liberty and Justice for all.
June 14, 1923
The following year the wording was changed again to read:
I pledge allegiance to the Flag
of the United States of America,
and to the Republic for which it stands:
one Nation indivisible,
With Liberty and Justice for all.
June 14, 1924
The Pledge of Allegiance continued to be recited daily by children in schools across America, and gained heightened popularity among adults during the patriotic fervor created by World War II. It still was an "unofficial" pledge until June 22, 1942 when the United States Congress included the Pledge to the Flag in the United States Flag Code (Title 36). This was the first Official sanction given to the words that had been recited each day by children for almost fifty years. One year after receiving this official sanction, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that school children could not be forced to recite the Pledge as part of their daily routine. In 1945 the Pledge to the Flag received its official title as:
The Pledge of Allegiance
The last change in the Pledge of Allegiance occurred on June 14 (Flag Day), 1954 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved adding the words "under God". As he authorized this change he said:
"In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country's most powerful resource in peace and war."
This was the last change made to the Pledge of Allegiance. The 23 words what had been initially penned for a Columbus Day celebration now comprised a Thirty-one profession of loyalty and devotion to not only a flag, but to a way of life....the American ideal. Those words now read:
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.
June 14, 1954
The Pledge of Allegiance
by Red Skelton
January 14, 1969
Click the flag to hear Red Skelton's entire speech.
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution
Amendment I Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
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To: BigWaveBetty
That's probably the cleanest those people have been in years. Why does the far left oppose bathing so much?
Check out this bit about Rosie O'Donnell.
From Queen of Nice to Royal Bitch?
By Mark Armstrong
Take this Koosh ball and shove it.
Rosie O'Donnell was either living a lie as the "Queen of Nice," or all those years of sappy sweetness on her daytime talk show have finally pushed her to the breaking point. Whatever the case, the once chipper gal is celebrating her talk-show retirement by going on a celeb-trashing spree, throwing nasty jabs at Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, Sharon Stone, Anne Heche and Oprah Winfrey.
Or, in her own words: "I'm no longer a TV talk-show host. The bitch ain't so nice anymore."
Yes, Rosie has snapped.
Boston and New York newspapers have published some jaw-dropping snippets from O'Donnell's weekend performance during a star-studded party at the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. Just a day after Bill Clinton showed up at the casino to receive an honor (and then broke out his saxophone for a performance), the Democrat O'Donnell dissed the ex-President and said she refused to speak to him.
"He disgusts me," she told the crowd, according to the New York Post. "And I know I'm not supposed to say this because I'm a good Democrat, but I didn't want to [talk] to him because he lied to me when he said, 'I did not have sexual relations with that woman,' and then put the scarlet-letter bl-- job on her for the rest of her life...I hate you." rest of the story
To: retrokitten
WLS AM radio here in Chicago is reporting that police have confiscated several video tapes out of an RV on R. Kelly's property. Police won't say what is on the tapes, but I don't think that it was family vacation videos. I work with alot of people who went to school in Chicago city schools and it seems like every girl who graduated in the last 5-7 years has a story about him cruising by trying to pick up girls (allegedly ;-) ).
We get Sean Hannity's radio show on a delay here and he has that anti-Pledge of Allegiance guy on. What an arrogant jerk. He can't back up any of his arguments.
To: All
[The e-mail below was written by Lindsey Yeskoo, the wife of Paul Yeskoo, a Foreign Service Officer (and Christian) serving in Shanghai. It details her experience of meeting the President when he was in China a month or two ago. It underlines why we need to be faithful in praying for the
President in particular and all our national leaders.]
Dear Family!
It is a dull, polluted Monday morning here in Shanghai and we await news of President Bush's safe arrival back in Washington D.C. He just left here less than twelve hours ago. Everyone is breathing a sigh of relief that no
terrorist incidents occurred here over the past days. Security was tight, as you will have seen on TV.
On Friday afternoon, a crowd of 600 consulate/embassy staff + families were invited to a reception in the Atrium of the Shanghai/Portman complex, at 3:15pm, to meet both GW and Colin Powell. We waited a LONG time (due to all the security we had to go through), but our anticipation outweighed our tired bodies and sore feet. We had left the house just after 10:30am in order to do all this!
Finally, Bush was announced, and it was SO INCREDIBLE to see him walk in with Powell and take the podium before us, especially with all the recent events.
Quite emotional for us all, actually. He gave a tremendous, candid yet heartening speech, and then was escorted down to the floor to meet the crowds. Everyone was of course behind a tight rope, and there were Secret Service men and security everywhere. There was no way he could meet all, but he sure did a great job of shaking hands with
as many as possible.
Colin Powell followed immediately behind him; he did not seem so engaging, surprisingly. Maybe the Secretary was (understandably) tired and distracted after his previous trips to Pakistan and India. Anyway, the three kids and I were in the very front row, and had and an extraordinary experience with President Bush. Bush came along and
shook Chris's hand first, noticing that he was all dressed up, and said, "You're looking sharp today, boy!"
Chris was SO PROUD and SO PLEASED at the recognition (if only GW had known what a struggle I'd had to get him to wear a jacket and a tie)! Then he shook my hand and I told him how much we value his strong leadership at this time,
that we are 100% behind him. He went on and took the girls' hands and talked to them.
Then I leaned over and mentioned that we pray for him every day. He stopped dead in his tracks (a definite security NO-NO... the SS men got REALLY antsy). He searched my eyes as if to see how much I really meant what I was saying.
Then he gave me the most amazing and unexpected personal response, Paul said for a good 20-30 seconds. He told me what the effect has been on him, waking up every day of the crisis and knowing within himself that he is being faithfully prayed for. He almost pleaded with me not to give up, but to persist with it, for this is only the beginning. Then he looked me even more squarely in my eyes, and gave me a very personal and specific series of instructions about the very things he most needs
prayer for, on behalf of himself and of the nation. He urged me that the threat against America is very great, and that one of our focuses in prayer to God needs to be "the shielding of America"... and wisdom for him as he
leads the country through this time.
I don't know why, but as I looked straight back at him directly into his face, he let me see for those brief moments a tiny part of the agony he himself is going through, and the weariness. He finished the conversation by putting his hand on my right
shoulder, almost as if it were the close of a commissioning, but affectionate too in a brotherly sort of way.
People were pressing in at this point and almost knocking the four of us right into Bush. Many of them were the Chinese staff who work for Paul, who would not have understood ANY of that conversation; but others caught
snippets and came afterwards to ask me WHAT we had been talking about. The President moved on. Needless to say, the whole experience was unforgettable. I cannot begin to tell you how deeply it has affected me.
Certainly, I do not think I have ever prayed for a leader or government or nation (or world!) so extensively as I have done since then. It was really quite an unusual and unexpected and powerful encounter."
What a blessing to have a professing Christian as President. Please take a moment after you read this to pray for him. He truly does have the weight of the world on his shoulders. Pray that God will sustain him and give him
wisdom and discernment in his decisions. Pray for his protection and that of his family. After you have prayed, send this to everyone on your e-mail list.
Our President needs Christians around the world to be praying for him. As this makes the e-mail rounds, eventually there could literally be people
praying for him 24/7 .
[This is good...very good.]
44
posted on
06/27/2002 7:52:18 PM PDT
by
Timeout
To: Endeavor
That was a great era in Tennis..the Chrissie Evert vs. Martina back when she couldn't speak english and was very 'Iron Curtain.'
Plus Connors vs. McEnroe and later Lendl with Arthur Ashe at the end of his career.
To: BigWaveBetty
Too bad that guy couldn't have refereed our game against Germany.
To: codebreaker
By the way, have you heard the way Brit Hume has signed off the Fox News the last two nights?
"Fox News, fair and balanced,...under God. Good night."
47
posted on
06/27/2002 8:05:24 PM PDT
by
Timeout
To: lodwick
I'll see your Ascot banker and raise you a Lil Kim. I wasn't looking for this picture, I just happen to find it in the E! Online site. There is so much horrible going on that I don't know where to start. I just don't understand it and, frankly, I am frightened.
To: mountaineer
countrydummy is having a bad time and I told her to talk to the guild. I told her y'all were the neatest people on FR. I have never met her, but she seems like GOOD people. She would be in good hands. I hope we can all meet one day. Thank you. Smitty
49
posted on
06/27/2002 8:28:35 PM PDT
by
folklore
To: BigWaveBetty
All I think whenI see this picture is "Spoiled, rich, white kids."
To: retrokitten
Is that a little nippage peeking through?
To: folklore
I hit the wrong key. Private (right click) idiot. Sorry cd, I did not mean to do that. Grumpy old men and computers just do not mix. What the heck ladies, help my frind out.
52
posted on
06/27/2002 8:43:55 PM PDT
by
folklore
To: BigWaveBetty
A guy that has Fabio hair, and plays with dolls.
What more could a woman want?
53
posted on
06/27/2002 8:44:43 PM PDT
by
pubmom
To: lodwick
Amazing what you can do with a needle, thread and some sheer curtains. Scarlett O'Hara was never like this!
54
posted on
06/27/2002 8:46:44 PM PDT
by
pubmom
To: folklore
Here is the e in friend.
55
posted on
06/27/2002 8:48:33 PM PDT
by
folklore
To: Timeout
What the heck does FDR have to do with this issue? Is he now sitting on the 9th Circuit? I knew we were hurting for judges, but I wasn't aware we were exhuming past presidents to fill the vacated positions. I would have thought the plagarist would have the sense to shut her mouth, guess I was wrong.
56
posted on
06/27/2002 8:52:46 PM PDT
by
pubmom
To: Aggie Mama
Yes, I think it might be. What is with the see through black skirt and WHITE underwear that look they have some kind of cartoon on them????
But we should keep in mind she is the same woman who wore not only an off the shoulder dress, but a half off of the chest dress to the Grammy's (I think it was the Grammy's) last year. One of her breasts was exposed and had a pasty covering what the censors won't allow on TV. I can't imagine how starved for attention someone would have to be to dress like that.
To: folklore
Send her over! There is always room for one more! :-)
To: retrokitten
Do not get me wrong, I am not dumping her, I just think you ladies can help her out. As fiesty as she is, she is a perfect fit.
59
posted on
06/27/2002 9:17:15 PM PDT
by
folklore
Comment #60 Removed by Moderator
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