Posted on December 28, 2015 at 9:29 AM by Victoria Mulherin
Today is National Pledge of Allegiance Day!
Congress formally recognized the Pledge of Allegiance on December 28, 1945. The Pledge of Allegiance was written in August 1892 by the socialist minister Francis Bellamy (1855-1931) in celebration of the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America. It was originally published in The Youth's Companion on September 8, 1892. Bellamy had hoped that the pledge would be used by citizens in any country. The text of the pledge, as originally written and modified a bit by the National Flag Conference in 1923 and 1924, was inserted into legislation, but without designating it as the official pledge.
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.” The small changes made resulted in this version: “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.”