Back to School: Origins of the Pledge  ## Metadata - Author: [[Sidedoor]] - Full Title: Back to School: Origins of the Pledge - Category: #podcasts - URL: https://share.snipd.com/episode/6027a958-bbfc-432e-9404-540279c3953c ## Document Notes ## Highlights - **How The Pledge Debuted Nationwide** - The Youth's Companion magazine printed instructions so millions of children recited a pledge in fall 1892. - That nationwide classroom event introduced Bellamy's words and a salute to the flag to American schools. Transcript: Lizzie Peabody Things you'd also find if you go poking around the Smithsonian's permanent exhibition, Many Voices, One Nation. Classrooms of yore were bursting with patriotic paraphernalia. Pictures of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Little American flag papers that you wrap around your pencil. See, public school, or common school as it was called back then, was a relatively new thing in the 1800s. And a big part of its mission was to educate America's youngest citizens about what it meant to be an American. In the language of kids, colorful pictures and songs. Debbie Schaefer-Jacobs Here's an example of Uncle Sam's school songbooks. Lizzie Peabody And more explicitly, like in this magazine, The Youth's Companion. Debbie Schaefer-Jacobs It's basically the size of a large, like, life magazine. Something your grandparents would probably recognize in format. Lizzie Peabody The Youth's Companion was a magazine for kids and families. The issue Debbie's showing me is dated September 1892. And she's looking for something specific as she turns to one of the pages in the middle. And there it is. Instructions for classrooms across the country to follow. It begins with the raising of the flag. Once the flag is raised, the children all stand at attention, facing it. Debbie Schaefer-Jacobs At the signal from the principal, the pupils in order of rank, hands to their sides and facing the flag. Lizzie Peabody The principal gives another signal. The children raise their hands to their foreheads, palms facing downward. So they're saluting. Debbie Schaefer-Jacobs Then standing together, they repeat, I pledge allegiance to my flag and the republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Lizzie Peabody Was this the first time the pledge was read by children in school? Debbie Schaefer-Jacobs This is the first time that the pledge is read by anyone. Lizzie Peabody In the fall of 1892, millions of children across America recited the Pledge of Allegiance for the very first time. But why? ([Time 0:01:59](https://share.snipd.com/snip/057ea7d2-008a-4299-87ce-bb5a4522fcd5)) - **Schools As Engines Of Assimilation** - Post–Civil War patriotism and mass immigration created pressure to assimilate newcomers via schools. - Public education became a primary tool to teach civic identity and loyalty to the flag. Transcript: Lizzie Peabody After the American Civil War, patriotism surged in America, particularly in the North. The nation rallied around patriotic symbols like bald eagles, George Washington's portrait, and the American flag. But as America swelled with national pride, something else was growing, too. Debbie Schaefer-Jacobs This huge explosion of immigration that makes the people who are already in America nervous. Lizzie Peabody The Smithsonian's Debbie Schaefer Jacobs again. She says in the 1870s, only a few years after the end of the Civil War, millions of immigrants poured into America from Eastern and Southern Europe. Debbie Schaefer-Jacobs This group of immigrants are not speaking English and not speaking German, which is the second most popular language at that point in America. They're speaking Polish, Lithuanian, Italian. Marc Leepson Just think of the movie The Godfather and think of that picture of New York City crowded with immigrants working menial jobs. Lizzie Peabody Mark Leapson is author of Flag, an American biography. He says this wave of immigration fueled a feeling of nativism, this idea that people who'd been here first had more rights and a higher standing in society. And by first, they meant European immigrants, not actual Native Americans. If these new immigrants wanted the American dream, well, they'd have to become American. Debbie Schaefer-Jacobs And as a result, we get this movement to teach civics and also to encourage patriotism in the classroom. Lizzie Peabody New York City appointed a former Union Army officer to take the lead teaching children patriotism in the classroom, a man named George T. Balch. While visiting classrooms, he saw that many were overcrowded with immigrant children. Debbie Schaefer-Jacobs And Balch sees this condition and gets worried. Lizzie Peabody He doesn't want New York to become Little Poland, Little Italy, or really any little immigrant enclave of any kind. He wants these kids to assimilate, to become American patriots. So ([Time 0:06:09](https://share.snipd.com/snip/5abf984b-606d-409f-82c3-c301c5effda4)) - **The Balch Pledge Influence** - George T. Balch, a former Union officer, created an 1885 pledge urging assimilation: "One country, one language, one flag." - His Balch Pledge spread in New York classrooms and influenced later pledges. Transcript: Lizzie Peabody New York City appointed a former Union Army officer to take the lead teaching children patriotism in the classroom, a man named George T. Balch. While visiting classrooms, he saw that many were overcrowded with immigrant children. Debbie Schaefer-Jacobs And Balch sees this condition and gets worried. Lizzie Peabody He doesn't want New York to become Little Poland, Little Italy, or really any little immigrant enclave of any kind. He wants these kids to assimilate, to become American patriots. Debbie Schaefer-Jacobs So he introduces what's known as the Balsh Pledge. Lizzie Peabody It's 1885, and his pledge sounds like this. Debbie Schaefer-Jacobs We give our heads and our hearts to God and our country. One country, one language, one flag. Marc Leepson That had 100 percent, well, maybe let's say it had 95 percent to do with inculcating love of country as embodied by that flag among the children of immigrants who were starting school In the United States and immigrant children themselves. ([Time 0:07:55](https://share.snipd.com/snip/d95be51f-89db-4720-b611-e256333c7515)) - **Bellamy Wrote The Original Pledge** - Francis Bellamy, a socialist and former pastor, wrote a new pledge to support a Youth's Companion flag campaign tied to Columbus celebrations. - On October 21, 1892, millions of students recited Bellamy's pledge and used his salute instructions. Transcript: Lizzie Peabody He's an interesting character. Bellamy was a Baptist pastor from Boston and a staunch socialist. He thought Gilded Age capitalism of the late 1800s would erode traditional American values, as would, quote, every alien immigrant of inferior race. How should we think of Bellamy? As a racist. Oh, okay, well, that's pretty straightforward, I guess. Bellamy was kicked out of his flock in 1891 for preaching against the evils of capitalism. Now unemployed, he found a job with a magazine called The Youth's Companion. Remember that. The magazine was struggling to sell subscriptions at the time, but the owner had a plan. See, The Youth's Companion was running a campaign called the Schoolhouse Flag Movement, which promised to raise a flag over every schoolhouse. Children could sell magazine subscriptions to their families and their neighbors, and if they sold enough subscriptions, they could get a flag in their classroom. Debbie Schaefer-Jacobs It's no different than kids today, you know, asking to sell calendars, candy, whatever. Lizzie Peabody But instead of raising money for their marching band uniforms or class trip... The goal is to get a flag for their classroom. So ginning up patriotism is good business. Correct. Debbie Schaefer-Jacobs It's very good business. And it's good business all around with school supplies. Lizzie Peabody Bellamy's whole job at the magazine was to come up with ways to make this schoolhouse flag campaign a success, to find ways to whip kids into a patriotic frenzy, make patriotism hip, Like the Pokemon Go of the era. That way, they'd have more incentive to sell more magazines to earn that classroom flag. So Bellamy and his colleague, whose name was James Upham, they were savvy salesmen. And they said, maybe we can create a big event centered around the flag, so kids need to have a flag for their schoolhouse. One of them was like, well, looky here. The 400th anniversary of Columbus sailing the ocean blue in 1492 is coming right up in just a few months. And they were both like, well, celebrate good times. Come on. Bellamy wrote to President Benjamin Harrison and said, hey, why don't we do a national celebration for the 400th anniversary of Columbus landing in America? And in a letter we have at the Smithsonian, Harrison responded saying something along the lines of, yeah, let's do it and I'm putting you in charge of it. Upham and Bellamy's plan was off to the races. And then Upham said, Bellamy, if we're going to go to all this trouble, why do you want to give so much free press to this bulge guy and his pledge? Why don't we create our own? Bellamy shoots him a thumbs up and starts writing a pledge of his own. At least that's more or less what happened. Marc Leepson Later in his life, when Bellamy reflected on writing the pledge, he said, It was my fault that a vow of loyalty or allegiance to the flag should be the dominant idea. I especially stress the word allegiance, and I like the word pledge better than vow. Lizzie Peabody So he writes, I pledge allegiance to my flag and the republic for which it stands. Marc Leepson Bellamy said he chose the word republic over country or nation because it distinguished the form of government chosen by the founding fathers and established by the revolution. Lizzie Peabody Bellamy concludes his pledge with the line, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. He says those three words, one nation indivisible, represent all the struggles the nation has endured from the revolution through the Civil War. The final pledge went something like this. I pledge allegiance to my flag and the republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And this sounds pretty close to the pledge we know today, but there are a couple things missing, and we'll get to that in just a bit. But as of the fall of 1892, Bellamy and the Youth's Companion had their pledge, and they had the Columbus Day event to go with it. ([Time 0:09:18](https://share.snipd.com/snip/f34ea09f-a7bf-4512-b097-e3a626ab31f2)) - **Salute Changed To Avoid Fascist Echoes** - Bellamy's original salute mirrored a military-style extended-arm gesture that later resembled fascist salutes. - During World War II Americans changed the salute to a hand-over-heart to avoid Nazi associations. Transcript: Lizzie Peabody Now, at the words to my flag, the right hand is to go out extended. To help you visualize this, but please don't follow along. You'd start the pledge with your hand held up to your forehead like a military salute. And as soon as you mention the flag, you stretch your hand out towards it. Marc Leepson It resembled a Nazi salute. And you could see pictures of children in classrooms with them almost looking like they're doing the... Lizzie Peabody Like Hitler Youth. Marc Leepson Yeah, Hitler Youth, correct. Lizzie Peabody That would change later, during World War II, when this salute became associated with fascism. Debbie Schaefer-Jacobs Suddenly, we don't want our children to be looking like Hitler Youth, do we? I don't think so. So we change the salute so that it's the hand over the heart. Lizzie Peabody In any case, the Bellamy Pledge had ([Time 0:14:07](https://share.snipd.com/snip/b075d3f5-1ab5-4664-b3e8-e1c989eb6b50)) - **War And Media Intensified Flag Loyalty** - Wars and media-fueled patriotism (Spanish–American War, yellow journalism) amplified flag reverence and pushed schools to mandate the pledge. - States enacted extreme flag laws and social pressure made refusal dangerous during wartime. Transcript: Marc Leepson The Spanish-American War probably is the perfect example of what was going on. Lizzie Peabody Historian Mark leaps in again. The Spanish-American War lasted for three months in 1898. It's how the U.S. Took control of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines, and Cuba from Spain. Mark says it created a patriotic fervor across America for a few reasons. For one, it was the first American war since the Civil War. Former Union and Confederate foes now had a common enemy, the Spanish Empire. Marc Leepson Those who fought for the South and those who fought for the North fought together under one flag, and that would be the Stars and Stripes. Lizzie Peabody Another reason the war caused a wave of patriotism was how the media covered it. It began when the U.S. Ship The Main blew up in the harbor of Havana. And it was never proven that Spain attacked the Maine, but newspapers ran wild with the story anyway. Marc Leepson I'm talking, you know, entire front pages with the Maine in flames, and this was done to America, and the phrase, remember the Maine. Lizzie Peabody Newspapers at the time saw how enragement equaled engagement. If they could rile up their audience and pull at the patriotic heartstrings, they could increase readership, what was known as yellow journalism at the time. There's a famous story about a conversation between newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst and an illustrator he sent to Cuba before the attack on the main. The illustrator said, there's no war here to cover. Hearst replied, you furnish the pictures, I'll furnish the war. They're selling newspapers, you know. Smithsonian's Debbie Schaefer Jacobs again. She says it's kind of another example of what the Youth's Companion did by stirring up patriotism for its flag campaign. Debbie Schaefer-Jacobs The Youth's Companion, they're selling magazines. The media is selling newspapers. Lizzie Peabody But patriotism wasn't the only thing raging as America entered the 1900s. The nativist ideology and hostility toward new immigrants grew stronger as more and more people flocked to America every year. Teddy Roosevelt, who gained popularity during the Spanish-American War, became president in 1901. Debbie Schaefer-Jacobs And he talks about there should be no hyphenated Americans. There shouldn't be German-Americans. There shouldn't be Italian-Americans. We're all one country, and therefore we need to get rid of this hyphenation bed. Lizzie Peabody Public schools, of course, were ground zero for instilling patriotic values. And the pledge became a big part of this. At the turn of the century, New York became the first state to require students to recite the pledge at the beginning of school. Others followed close behind. But even in states where the pledge required, it became nearly impossible and sometimes dangerous not to honor the flag as America entered World War I. Marc Leepson People were getting arrested for not standing at attention in front of the American flag, for not displaying a flag in their window. Lizzie Peabody What? This was really surprising to me. Mark says America went into a rally around the flag boys mindset, which is a song from the Civil War. It's just natural. Marc Leepson In any country, you rally around patriotic symbols when there's crisis such as a war. Lizzie Peabody States wrote new and extreme flag laws. In Texas, you could get 25 years in jail for using language in public or private that cast contempt on the American flag. Marc Leepson In California, a man thought to have insulted a flag was forced to kneel on the sidewalk and kiss it. In St. Lizzie Peabody Louis, a German-American was dragged out of his house by a mob of 300 people. Marc Leepson He was forced to march down the street barefoot carrying two small American flags. They wrapped him up in a large American flag and made him kiss the flag as he walked. His crime in the eyes of the mob was that he had given a speech earlier that evening at a socialist meeting in which he allegedly made disloyal remarks. Lizzie Peabody But even with all these new laws popping up in various states about respecting the flag, there was still no single federal American flag code setting out rules and regulations for how To treat the flag. And there was no official Pledge of Allegiance either. People just heard Bellamy's pledge in school, and that became the pledge they knew. That is, until 1923. 1923. By the 1920s, all these rules around the flag got pretty confusing. Besides state laws, there were dozens of organizations that each had different rules about respecting the flag. Like, how do you carry it? How do you fold it? What do you do when it's time to retire a tattered flag? And how tattered does it have to be to be retired? Can I make a flapper dress out of the Stars and Stripes for that Fourth of July party at the speakeasy? Marc Leepson So it was decided that there should be a conference in Washington, D.C. In 1923 in which they would come up with one flag code. Lizzie Peabody And it was at this conference that veterans groups and leaders of the military agreed on a single flag code. And they also took the opportunity to tweak the wording to Bellamy's pledge. Marc Leepson They changed it from, I pledge allegiance to my flag, to I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. Apparently, ([Time 0:15:55](https://share.snipd.com/snip/22a2b73f-6d17-45a4-8c6d-872072bbeb2e)) - **1923 Standardized The Wording** - A 1923 flag conference standardized the pledge wording to "to the flag of the United States of America" to avoid immigrant confusion. - That committee made Bellamy's words the de facto national pledge for schools. Transcript: Lizzie Peabody By the 1920s, all these rules around the flag got pretty confusing. Besides state laws, there were dozens of organizations that each had different rules about respecting the flag. Like, how do you carry it? How do you fold it? What do you do when it's time to retire a tattered flag? And how tattered does it have to be to be retired? Can I make a flapper dress out of the Stars and Stripes for that Fourth of July party at the speakeasy? Marc Leepson So it was decided that there should be a conference in Washington, D.C. In 1923 in which they would come up with one flag code. Lizzie Peabody And it was at this conference that veterans groups and leaders of the military agreed on a single flag code. And they also took the opportunity to tweak the wording to Bellamy's pledge. Marc Leepson They changed it from, I pledge allegiance to my flag, to I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. Lizzie Peabody Apparently, there was some concern that immigrant children would be confused when pledging allegiance to my flag. Maybe they thought my flag, as in the Italian flag, because I'm Italian. So the flag committee was like, we're going to be really specific. Debbie Schaefer-Jacobs Let there be no doubt. Let there be no doubt. Lizzie Peabody The conference ended by voting to make Bellamy's pledge the Pledge of Allegiance for the United States of America, to be read in classrooms by children nationwide. ([Time 0:21:02](https://share.snipd.com/snip/d7175a22-0319-47ac-9424-b18b0ab7d277)) - **Gobitis Case: Forced Pledge And Backlash** - Jehovah's Witnesses refused the pledge as idolatrous and were expelled in Minersville, prompting a Supreme Court case. - In 1940 the Court ruled schools could compel recitation, citing national unity over individual conscience. Transcript: Lizzie Peabody In 1935, a leader of the Jehovah's Witnesses called on his followers to refuse to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, saying it was a, quote, salute to an earthly emblem, ascribing salvation To it was unfaithfulness to God. In other words... Debbie Schaefer-Jacobs They're treating the flag as a sacred object in the pledge, and they don't want to participate. Lizzie Peabody In Minersville, Pennsylvania, when a fifth-grade boy named Billy Gobitis refused to stand for the pledge, his teacher tried to physically force his hand out of his pocket to make him Salute. The next day, his older sister Lillian did the same thing. The school board quickly passed a resolution saying that refusing to recite the Pledge of Allegiance was insubordination. And then it expelled the Gobitis kids. The Gobitises sued the Minersville School District over their pledge policy. They argued that they had the First Amendment right to practice religion as they pleased. And their case went all the way to the Supreme Court. In June of 1940, the Supreme Court sided with the school. It ruled 8-1 that yes, you can compel students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. It is not a violation of the First Amendment. The court wrote that, quote, national unity was the basis of national security. ([Time 0:22:32](https://share.snipd.com/snip/58358243-95bc-4402-bafd-3c4d059195de)) - **1943 Ruling Protected Conscience** - Two years later, wartime reflection on coercion and fascism led the Supreme Court to reverse and protect students' right not to salute. - Justices argued patriotism must come from free choice, not state compulsion. Transcript: Lizzie Peabody And backlashes to those backlashes. And in the case of Minersville v. Gabitis, the backlash to the backlash came just a few years later. In 1942, the West Virginia Board of Education passed a regulation similar to the one in Minersville. It required students to recite the pledge. And when two Jehovah's Witness children refused to recite the pledge, they were expelled. But this time, the country was in a very different place than it had been just a few years earlier. The United States was in the darkest years of World War II. Americans had a front-row view of how unbridled nationalism and coerced patriotism devolved into fascism in Nazi Germany. So this time, when the West Virginia case made it all the way to the Supreme Court, the justices reached a different decision. Marc Leepson The Supreme Court reversed their earlier ruling, and by 6-3 vote, the court voted to overturn the Gobitis decision. I always thought this was kind of ironic. On Flag Day, June 14, 1943, the court ruled that schoolchildren should not be compelled to recite the pledge. Lizzie Peabody Justices Hugo Black and William Douglas reversed their rulings from the Minersville case. In a concurring opinion they wrote that patriotism, by its nature, cannot be mandated. ([Time 0:25:13](https://share.snipd.com/snip/f086ea02-2436-406e-bb20-a6eaae5e3241)) - **Cold War Language Was Politically Motivated** - In 1954 "under God" was added to distinguish the U.S. from godless communism during the Cold War. - The pledge has repeatedly adapted to political anxieties about national identity and enemies. Transcript: Lizzie Peabody And then, in the 1950s, when America was in the midst of the Cold War, Catholics pushed President Eisenhower to add the words under God to the pledge. They argued we needed to differentiate ourselves from the godless communists we were fighting. Marc Leepson I remember one day they told us, you know, okay, from now on you're going to say under God. Lizzie Peabody Mark was nine years old in 1954 when under God was added to the pledge. And most of us were introduced to the pledge the same way he was, in school. It was something you did over and over, and likely never really thought about. ([Time 0:27:55](https://share.snipd.com/snip/a0166d93-7fc7-4584-9cf8-8f63a1a7bf5c)) - **Pledge As A Living Instrument** - The pledge evolved from a magazine gimmick into a tool to define who belongs in America across eras. - Its history shows a tension between enforced unity and constitutional freedoms. Transcript: Lizzie Peabody It's evolved from a business gimmick written by a socialist to sell magazine subscriptions, to a way to calm rising anxieties over the changing American identity, be it from European Immigrants, fascists, or communist enemies. And for the past century, there's been an inherent tension between the desire for national unity that the pledge strives for and the individual freedoms it honors. But even though the pledge can't be required, it's still said by nearly every public school student in America daily. Debbie says schools are where children are introduced to America's long, complicated history. And the pledge is part of that history. Debbie Schaefer-Jacobs It's a grounding. It's a grounding for you, a place where you start. It's ([Time 0:29:24](https://share.snipd.com/snip/88cc1d44-a2fb-46d7-97f4-28db44e979cd))