American Pledge of Allegiance
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The Pledge of Allegiance
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President Bush says the Pledge of Allegiance
at East Literature Magnet School in Nashville on 9/17/02
Daily Pledge Recited by K-5 Kids Thanks to ABC19 WKPT in Kingsport, TN
Our Pledge of Allegiance
As recited by Rear Admiral Collin Green (US Navy)
before the start of the Ford EcoBoost 400
at the Homestead-Miami Speedway 11/20/2016
0:29
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Our Pledge of Allegiance
As recited by Students From the 5th Grade Class
at John L Hurt Jr Elementary School in Hurt VA
before the start of the Goody's Fast Relief 500
at the Martinsville Speedway on 10/30/2016
0:25
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Our Pledge of Allegiance
As recited by Cub Scout Packs 735 and 747
before the start of the Virginia529 College Savings 250
at the Richmond International Raceway on 09/09/2016
0:30
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Our Pledge of Allegiance
As recited by Major General Kurt Sonntag (USAF)
at the Ford Ecoboost 400 (Sprint Cup Final Race)
running at the Homestead-Miami Speedway on 11/16/2014
0:25
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Our Pledge of Allegiance
As recited by Colonel Alan Teauseau (USAFR 482nd Fighter Wing Commander, Homstead AFB)
at the Ford Ecoboost 400 (Sprint Cup Final Race)
running at the Homestead-Miami Speedway on 11/19/2017
0:26
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Our Pledge of Allegiance
As recited by The 2016 Essay Contest Winners
at the Ford EcoBoost 300
running at the Homestead-Miami Speedway on 11/19/2016
0:30
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Our Pledge of Allegiance
As recited by The 2017 Essay Contest Winners
at the Ford EcoBoost 300
running at the Homestead-Miami Speedway on 11/18/2016
0:23
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Our Pledge of Allegiance
As recited by The 2018 Arts Contest Winners
at the Ford EcoBoost 300
running at the Homestead-Miami Speedway on 11/18/2016
0:28
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Our Pledge of Allegiance
As recited by David V. Aguilar, Chief of the US Border Patrol
at the Cedar Creek Emerson Radio 250
running at the Richmond International Raceway on 9/07/2007
0:28
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Our Pledge of Allegiance
As recited by SSgt Dennis Orondo
at the Food City 300
running at the Bristol Motor Speedway on 8/18/2017
0:21
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Our Pledge of Allegiance
As recited at the Purple Heart Presentations 4/20/2006
0:15
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Our Pledge of Allegiance
As recited at the Republican National Convention on 9/02/2004
by Olympic greats Mary Lou Retton and Kerri Strug followed by
our National Anthem as performed by Angie McDermott
(later to become Ms Minnesota 2008)
3:24
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The Pledge of Allegiance as explained by Red Skelton:
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from the Red Skelton Hour 01/14/69
4:07
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Video from The Red Skelton Show 01/14/1969
with his performance of The Pledge of Allegiance
4:17
 27.9MB
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Speech recorded live in NYC on July 4, 1970
3:58
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From the alt.binaries.sounds.radio.oldtime newsgroup
Thanks to Chris P. Mezzolesta (over on mindspring.com)
In the 1970's Burger Chef gave out a promo with this speech on it.
It was a paper record, plastic coated - but it played. Here's what it looked like:
Pledge of Allegiance
Our Pledge put to music in this glowing tribute
Performed by The US Continental Army Band
2:57
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Pledge of Allegiance
The Pledge put to music by the U.S. Air Force
Performed by The U.S. Air Force Concert Band (2001)
2:43
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An American Pledge by Free Country
This is an original song by a group of
U.S. Marines who are assigned to the
U.S. Marine Band in Washington D.C.
3:54
Played on Travel Channel's
"American Voices" aired on 9-11-03
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This Graphic is from friends in Panama and they run
The CZBrats
which is a site about the history and culture of the
Republic of Panama and the Panama Canal
Click on the Picture for a larger version
The Puppet star of a children's show
recites the Pledge of Allegiance
and sings "My Country Tis of Thee"
1:24
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A Public Service Announcement
about the Pledge of Allegiance
from around 1975-1980
:30
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The Pledge of Allegiance
A Short History
by Dr. John W. Baer
Copyright © 1992 by Dr. John W. Baer
Francis Bellamy (1855 - 1931), a Baptist minister, wrote the original Pledge in August 1892. He was a Christian Socialist. In his Pledge, he is expressing the ideas of his first cousin, Edward Bellamy, author of the American socialist utopian novels, Looking Backward (1888) and Equality (1897).
Francis Bellamy in his sermons and lectures and Edward Bellamy in his novels and articles described in detail how the middle class could create a planned economy with political, social and economic equality for all. The government would run a peace time economy similar to our present military industrial complex.
The Pledge was published in the September 8th issue of The Youth's Companion, the leading family magazine and the Reader's Digest of its day. Its owner and editor, Daniel Ford, had hired Francis in 1891 as his assistant when Francis was pressured into leaving his baptist church in Boston because of his socialist sermons. As a member of his congregation, Ford had enjoyed Francis's sermons. Ford later founded the liberal and often controversial Ford Hall Forum, located in downtown Boston.
In 1892 Francis Bellamy was also a chairman of a committee of state superintendents of education in the National Education Association. As its chairman, he prepared the program for the public schools' quadricentennial celebration for Columbus Day in 1892. He structured this public school program around a flag raising ceremony and a flag salute - his 'Pledge of Allegiance.'
His original Pledge read as follows: 'I pledge allegiance to my Flag and (to*) the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.' He considered placing the word, 'equality,' in his Pledge, but knew that the state superintendents of education on his committee were against equality for women and African Americans. [ * 'to' added in October, 1892. ]
Dr. Mortimer Adler, American philosopher and last living founder of the Great Books program at Saint John's College, has analyzed these ideas in his book, The Six Great Ideas. He argues that the three great ideas of the American political tradition are 'equality, liberty and justice for all.' 'Justice' mediates between the often conflicting goals of 'liberty' and 'equality.'
In 1923 and 1924 the National Flag Conference, under the 'leadership of the American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution, changed the Pledge's words, 'my Flag,' to 'the Flag of the United States of America.' Bellamy disliked this change, but his protest was ignored.
In 1954, Congress after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus, added the words, 'under God,' to the Pledge. The Pledge was now both a patriotic oath and a public prayer.
Bellamy's granddaughter said he also would have resented this second change. He had been pressured into leaving his church in 1891 because of his socialist sermons. In his retirement in Florida, he stopped attending church because he disliked the racial bigotry he found there.
What follows is Bellamy's own account of some of the thoughts that went through his mind in August, 1892, as he picked the words of his Pledge:
It began as an intensive communing with salient points of our national history, from the Declaration of Independence onwards; with the makings of the Constitution...with the meaning of the Civil War; with the aspiration of the people...
The true reason for allegiance to the Flag is the 'republic for which it stands.' ...And what does that vast thing, the Republic mean? It is the concise political word for the Nation - the One Nation which the Civil War was fought to prove. To make that One Nation idea clear, we must specify that it is indivisible, as Webster and Lincoln used to repeat in their great speeches. And its future?
Just here arose the temptation of the historic slogan of the French Revolution which meant so much to Jefferson and his friends, 'Liberty, equality, fraternity.' No, that would be too fanciful, too many thousands of years off in realization. But we as a nation do stand square on the doctrine of liberty and justice for all...
If the Pledge's historical pattern repeats, its words will be modified during this decade. Below are two possible changes.
Some prolife advocates recite the following slightly revised 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, born and unborn.'
A few liberals recite a slightly revised version of Bellamy's original Pledge: 'I pledge allegiance to my Flag, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with equality, liberty and justice for all.'
Bibliography:
Baer, John. The Pledge of Allegiance, A Centennial History, 1892 - 1992, Annapolis, Md. Free State Press, Inc., 1992.
Miller, Margarette S. Twenty-Three Words, Portsmouth, Va. Printcraft Press, 1976.
For more information about the history of the Pledge, be sure to also read the three online chapters of The Pledge of Allegiance, A Centennial History, 1892 - 1992 by Dr. Baer:
The Youth's Companion's Pledge
American Socialists and Reformers
The Life of Francis Bellamy
Do you have questions or comments about this short history?
Please contact:
Dr. John W. Baer
10 Taney Ave.
Annapolis, MD 21401
Another site goes far deeper into the history of the pledge
and all the changes over the years. Try and visit the
Home of Heroes - History of the Pledge of Allegiance
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Last updated 03/09/2019
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