The Superfluous Pledge

 "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."

        These words are undoubtedly etched into the minds of anyone who has passed through the American public education system since the early 20th century. We know the pledge by heart, but why? What are the origins of the pledge? How did it become so ubiquitous in American schools, and why must the pledge be renewed every morning at the start of each new school day?

    Francis Bellamy (1855 - 1931), author of the Pledge of Allegiance, was a Baptist minister who eventually lost his place at the pulpit for his outspoken socialist views. His career as a preacher was cut short due to his advocacy for Christian Socialism and his insistence that Jesus was a socialist. He then went on to join the staff of The Youth's Companion magazine out of Boston, a weekly publication that promoted civic values to the youth of America.

    It was in one such issue of The Youth's Companion in 1892 that Bellamy published the Pledge in its original form to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus "discovering" the new world:

"I pledge allegiance to my Flag 

and the Republic for which it stands, 

one nation,

 indivisible, 

with liberty and justice for all."

    Noticeably absent from Bellamy's original Pledge is the phrase "under God," which was added in 1954 via legislation by President Eisenhower amidst McCarthyism and the Second Red Scare. Bellamy, a self-proclaimed socialist, strongly supported the absolute separation of church and state and was no doubt turning over in his grave when these two words were added to the Pledge. 

    As a high school English teacher and substitute teacher I have heard the Pledge recited over classroom PA speakers more times than I can count. In nine years of teaching in Maryland public schools, I'd conservatively estimate that four total students out of thousands actually stood for the Pledge. Most students could not care less about the Pledge, and why should they? 

    Christopher Columbus enslaved the natives upon arriving in the new land and his reputation has been sullied over the past few decades to the point where many communities now celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day rather than Columbus Day. So why continue to recite a pledge that has original ties to Columbus, has been altered to contradict the ideals of its author, and is so ineffectual that it must be recited over and over again, morning after morning? Public education is mired in tradition and the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance is clearly just another example of tradition for tradition's sake.