Bellamy's Influence On American Public Schools

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The pledge that all American public schools recite today was written by Francis Bellamy in 1892. It was first published on September 8th in The Youth’s Companion, a popular children’s magazine. This edition of the magazine celebrated 400 years of Columbus’s arrival to America. This began a campaign to spread nationalism to children and sell flags to public schools. This original pledge stated. “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”(Bellamy). This pledge came with a salute similar to the salute used by Nazi-Germany. Bellamy had considered using the words “equality”and “fraternity” but had known state officials were against equality for women and African Americans. …show more content…

The first substantial change to the pledge came in 1923. The “new and improved” pledge became known as "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". The change of “my Flag’ to “the Flag” was so immigrants would know where their loyalties lied. The pledge that children recite currently include the words “under God” which was added in 1954. This change brought great conflict in schools. The first major case brought to notice was West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette. Before this court decision, it was common for children to be expelled from school for not comply with the pledge. The Board of education wanted the pledge to become a regular part of public schooling and refusing to obey was an Act of insubordination which ended in expulsion. If the child still did not conform, they would be considered unlawfully