Pledge of Allegiance Fun Fact!

Another fun fact -
The Founding Fathers originally adopted the resolution on independence on July 2, 1776, making July 2 the anniversary of America's independence. Founding Father (and second President of the United States) John Adams wrote to his wife that he expected July 2 to be day celebrated by generations of Americans to come. On July 4, the Congress adopted and signed the Declaration of Independence, which "backed up" the resolution adopted two days earlier.

The following is from a website I found. I edited it to keep it brief.

The Pledge was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy. He was an American, a Baptist minister and Socialist. In its original form, it read:

"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

It was first published in a children's magazine, Youth's Companion, in 1892 to celebrate the 400th anniv. of Columbus' arrival in the Americas.

The word "to" was added before "the Republic" in 1892-OCT.

By 1924, the National Flag Conference, under the leadership of the American Legion and Daughters of the American Revolution, changed the words, 'my Flag,' to 'the Flag of the United States of America.

In 1953, the Roman Catholic men's group, the Knights of Columbus, mounted a campaign to add the words "under God" to the Pledge. The nation was suffering through the height of the cold war, and the McCarthy communist witch hunt. It was changed under the direction of President Eisenhower.

I hope this helps and a very happy 4th to you all.

ETA: Sorry - I should have said - yes. I do know the origin!!

Nope. It was written by Francis Bellamy in 1892 and FINALLY adopted by Congress in 1942. Mr. Bellamy wrote the Pledge for a magazine in Boston - sorry - can't remember the name.

"Under God" was added in 1954 by Louis Bellman, a lawyer from Chicago.

As part of teaching my children US History (home schoolers) we went into the entire history, including the changes that were made, the reason it was written as it originally was, why changes were made from the original intent of the author etc.
I am having a hard time finding one of my favorite websites that has a more complete history, I think it might be on the old computer I haven't moved all the data off of. But this is one of the ones I like to share. http://www.religioustolerance.org/nat_pled1.htm/

A great series about the history of the US is "How the States got their Shapes". It was originally a book and then was a TV series. Our whole family loved it. It is very detailed yet very entertaining. We all learned a lot from it. I highly recommend it. http://www.history.com/shows/how-the-states-got-their-shapes

When I was in 1st grade I thought 'indivisable' meant you couldn't see it.

I always thought that the pledge had been around since the 1700's.

I did know about the 2 July date!! Now I don't feel so bad!

thanks for sharing the information!

German almost became the official language of the USA

Hi Anette H., you are right.

German might have become the official language of the United Staters and so might Japanese, but we won WWII.

Its too bad the Founding Fathers didn't make English the "official Language".