This was the original phrasing of the Pledge of Allegiance, as written in 1892 by christian socialist, Francis Bellamy.
Another little known fact, "The Pledge" was firstly created as a marketing technique.
It was written for a popular children's magazine called The Youth's Companion for the special 400th anniversary of Columbus Day, in an attempt to sell flags and magazines complete with a subtle indoctrination of nationalism, free of charge.
"The Pledge" has undergone some serious alterations throughout history. Prior to 1924, children would recite this oath to "my flag," and "the republic for which it stands" could have applied to any republic, Banana, for example. And god had nothing to do with the matter until 1954 when the elite Catholic group Knights of Columbus refused to pledge without him.
Another interesting tidbit: Before FDR made the good judgment call of implementing the "hand over your heart" technique for pledging allegiance in 1942 (the date is relevant here), the original "Bellamy Salute" looked a little something like this:
Shades of heil Hitler or hail to Mussolini, right? Or, some Centurion or Klingon salute?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, love to know where you are getting this stuff. Or, do you just wake to find it on your pillow? You don't have to be bibliographic about it, but do nod toward a source or set of sources--when posting on something not common knowledge, that is.
your voice is great in this. seems a bit sarcastic (which i love) but still very informative and interesting. i didn't get bored, seemed like just the right amount of information. great job!
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