Hi George,

Here's some interesting pledge facts I've found...

1. The orginal "flag salute" was written by George Balch in 1889, who invented it as a way to install discipline in the "human scum, cast on our shores by the tidal wave of vast immigration". His original read: "We give our Heads and our Hearts to God and Country! One nation! One Language! One Flag!"

2. The reason the pledge of allegiance was written: to sell flags and 'tame' immigrants. Media bigwig James Upham, riding on a wave of anti-immigrant sensationalism in 1892 convinced superintendents around the nation to celebrate Columbus day with a yet unwritten 'flag salute'. The Companion, his magazine company, supplied the flags, and he commissioned Francis Bellamy, a recently hired ex-baptist minister to write the pledge.

3. Francis Bellamy, the author of the more modern pledge, was a utopian socialist in the tradition of his cousin, the famous socialist Edward Bellamy. He had been kicked out of the baptist ministry because of his politics, when he took a job with Upham at the 'Companion' magazine. His other published works include 'Jesus was a socialist' and 'Sucessful Magazine Advertising.'

His original version included the slogan of the French revolution "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity", but it was removed pre-publication in order to satisfy racist school superintendents who preferred "liberty and justice"- terms that in the 1890's were considered decidedly anti-'foreigner'.

Here's the first mass-published version from 1892: "I pledge allegiance to my flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

The 'United States of America' part was added by the historically racist organizations the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the American Legion, the author, Francis Bellamy, protested, but was ignored.

The 'under God' part was added at the height of the communist-scare McCarthy era, who also changed the national motto from 'E Pluribus Unum' to "In God we Trust."

In total, the Pledge of Allegiance, can be seen largely as an attempt by the racist upper classes of the late 19th century to stifle immigrant dissent and appropriate nationalist sentiment. Radical labor unions like the 'Wobblies' were on the rise, and the powers that were feared being overthrown in a bloody revolution similar to those overseas. In particular, the Anarchist German immigrants demonized for the 'Haymarket Massacre' in 1886 (in which a bomb had gone off in the midst of a police attack on protesters) had the upper class scared. So pledges to the nation, flag, english language, etc, began popping up all over the place, usually at the behest of business people.

The pledge writer, Francis Bellamy, despite his socialist politics, was a thorough racist (not unusual at the time). His words in 1897:

"A democracy like ours cannot afford to throw itself open to the world. Where every man is a lawmaker, every dull-witted or fanatical immigrant admitted to our citizenship is a bane to our commonwealth. Where all classes of society merge insensibly into one another every alien immigrant of inferior race may bring corruption to the stock."

So although I value democracy deeply, I refuse to say the pledge.

Andrew J. Holden (electronic mail, March 1, 2003)
Citizens Against Global Exploitation (CAGE)

with info from the World Book Encyclopedia, history.com, Dr. John Baer's 'The Pledge, a Short History' and Howard Zinn's 'People's History of America.'