9781422287545

The Pledge of Allegiance Story of One Indivisible Nation

The Alamo: Symbol of Freedom American Flag: The Story of Old Glory Bald Eagle: The Story of Our National Bird

Confederate Flag: Controversial Symbol of the South The Declaration of Independence: Forming a New Nation Ellis Island: The Story of a Gateway to America Independence Hall: Birthplace of Freedom Jefferson Memorial: A Monument to Greatness Liberty Bell: Let Freedom Ring Lincoln Memorial: Shrine to an American Hero Mount Rushmore: Memorial to Our Greatest Presidents The Pledge of Allegiance: Story of One Indivisible Nation Rock ’n’ Roll: Voice of American Youth The Star-Spangled Banner: Story of Our National Anthem Statue of Liberty: A Beacon of Welcome and Hope Uncle Sam: International Symbol of America The U.S. Constitution: Government by the People Vietnam Veterans Memorial: Remembering a Generation and a War Washington Monument: Memorial to a Founding Father The White House: The Home of the U.S. President

The Pledge of Allegiance Story of One Indivisible Nation

Lisa Kozleski

Mason Crest Philadelphia

Mason Crest 450 Parkway Drive, Suite D Broomall, PA 19008 www.masoncrest.com

© 2015 by Mason Crest, an imprint of National Highlights, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechani- cal, including photocopying, recording, taping, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher. Printed and bound in the United States of America. CPSIA Compliance Information: Batch #PSA2014. For further information, contact Mason Crest at 1-866-MCP-Book. Publisher’s note: all quotations in this book come from original sources, and contain the spelling and grammatical inconsistencies of the original text. First printing 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file at the Library of Congress

ISBN: 978-1-4222-3131-9 (hc) ISBN: 978-1-4222-8754-5 (ebook)

Patriotic Symbols of America series ISBN: 978-1-4222-3117-3

Contents

Patriotic Symbols and American History

6

Introduction by Barry Moreno

1. “Come and Hear What I’ve Got!” 2. The People Behind the Pledge

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15 25 31 37 42 43 45 45 46

3. The Pledge Changes 4. The Right Not to Pledge 5. A Symbol and a Statement

Chronology

Series Glossary of Key Terms

Further Reading Internet Resources

Index

KEY ICONS TO LOOK FOR :

Text-dependent questions: These questions send the reader back to the text for more careful attention to the evidence presented there.

Words to understand: ;OLZL ^VYKZ ^P[O [OLPY LHZ` [V \UKLYZ[HUK KLÄUP[PVUZ ^PSS increase the reader's understanding of the text, while building vocabulary skills.

Series glossary of key terms: This back-of-the book glossary contains terminology used throughout this series. Words found here increase the reader's HIPSP[` [V YLHK HUK JVTWYLOLUK OPNOLY SL]LS IVVRZ HUK HY[PJSLZ PU [OPZ ÄLSK Research projects: Readers are pointed toward areas of further inquiry connected to each chapter. Suggestions are provided for projects that encourage deeper research and analysis. Sidebars: This boxed material within the main text allows readers to build knowledge, gain insights, explore possibilities, and broaden their perspectives by weaving together additional information to provide realistic and holistic perspectives.

Patriotic Symbols and American History S ymbols are not merely ornaments to admire—they also tell us stories. If you look at one of them closely, you may want to find out why it was made and what it truly means. If you ask people who live in the society in which the symbol exists, you will learn some things. But by studying the people who created that symbol and the reasons why they made it, you will understand the deepest meanings of that symbol. The United States owes its identity to great events in history, and the most remarkable of our patriotic symbols are rooted in these events. The struggle for independence from Great Britain gave America the Declaration of Independence, the Liberty Bell, the American flag, and other images of freedom. The War of 1812 gave the young country a song dedicated to the flag, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which became our national anthem. Nature gave the country its national animal, the bald eagle. These symbols established the identity of the new nation, and set it apart from the nations of the Old World.

7 Introduction

To be emotionally moving, a symbol must strike people with a sense of power and unity. But it often takes a long time for a new symbol to be accepted by all the people, especially if there are older symbols that have gradually lost popularity. For example, the image of Uncle Sam has replaced Brother Jonathan, an earlier representation of the national will, while the Statue of Liberty has replaced Columbia, a woman who represented liberty to Americans in the early 19th century. Since then, Uncle Sam and the Statue of Liberty have endured and have become cherished icons of America. Of all the symbols, the Statue of Liberty has perhaps the most curious story, for unlike other symbols, Americans did not create her. She was created by the French, who then gave her to America. Hence, she represented not what Americans thought of their country but rather what the French thought of America. It was many years before Americans decided to accept this French goddess of Liberty as a symbol for the United States and its special role among the nations: to spread freedom and enlighten the world. This series of books is valuable because it presents the story of each of America’s great symbols in a freshly written way and will contribute to the students’ knowledge and awareness of them. It it to be hoped that this information will awaken an abiding interest in American history, as well as in the meanings of American symbols. — Barry Moreno, librarian and historian Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty National Monument

Words to Understand

allegiance— Devotion or loyalty, especially to a person, group or cause. colleague— an associate in a profession. fraternity— the quality or state of being brothers. indivisible— something that can not be separated into parts. justice— the quality of being just, impartial or fair. liberty— the state of being free. patriotism— love for or devotion to country. pledge— a solemn promise or oath. republic— a political system in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote.

ritual— the established form for a ceremony. salient— prominent; standing out conspicuously.

ugust is always hot in Boston, but in 1892, the sum- mer sun seemed especially intense. The heat added to the pressure Francis Bellamy and James Upham were facing. So much work had already been done. Bellamy and Upham were colleagues at the popular magazine The Youth’s Companion, which was based in Massachusetts. They had spent months organizing the National School Celebration for the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the New World. They had President Benjamin Harrison’s support, they had planned the raising of the flag by veterans and they had prepared an address on “The Meaning of Four Centuries.” The one task that remained was to write a “salute to the flag.” 1 “Come and Hear What I’ve Got!” In 1892, this building at 142 Berkeley Street in Boston housed offices of The Youth’s Companion , a popular magazine of the time. It was here that a writer for the magazine named Francis Bellamy wrote a “salute to the flag.” The short article he wrote has become known to students throughout the United States, as the basis for our Pledge of Allegiance.

9

10 The Pledge of Allegiance: Story of One Indivisible Nation

Bellamy, a former minister who had started working at the Boston magazine a year earlier, wanted Upham to tackle this job. After all, Upham had been responsible for a nationwide movement bringing American flags into every public school. Upham tried several times to write a salute. He often asked his coworkers, including Bellamy, for their opinions. But after months of scrib- bling down words and ideas about his feelings for America, Upham was never satisfied. So he turned to Bellamy for help. On that hot night in August, Bellamy and Upham stayed late at the office talking about the project. Their deadline was drawing close. The colleagues agreed on what they didn’t want their pledge to be. They wanted more than the words that had been written in 1887 as a sort of pledge that said, “We give our heads and our hearts to God and our country; one country, one language, one Flag.” This salute, the men felt, lacked dignity and comprehensiveness, and they thought they could do better. What they wanted was to create a vow of allegiance , written in simple terms that illustrated a vision of patriotism . Over dinner at the Thorndyke Hotel, Bellamy and Upham talked about the idea of pledging allegiance to the flag. Such a pledge would be a promise of loyalty to all that the flag represented: a republic based on liberty and rooted in justice for everyone. Upham, especially, was pleased with the idea of allegiance.

11 “Come and Hear What I’ve Got!”

The National School Celebration in 1892 was held to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s landing in America.

When Bellamy returned to his office that night, he picked up a pencil and got to work. He started with the word “allegiance.” He then decided that “pledge” would be a better word for children than “vow” or “swear.” Next, he opted for the first person—“I”—instead of the “we” used in the earlier salute. And before he knew it, he had the first part finished: “I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the Republic for which it stands.” Then, thinking of the Civil War that had divided the country only 30 years earlier, Bellamy scribbled down three words: “one nation, indivisible .” He felt he was almost there. He thought about ending the pledge with a popular slogan from the French Revolution—“liberty, fraternity , equality”—but went one step further. Asking

12 The Pledge of Allegiance: Story of One Indivisible Nation

himself what the early Americans had lived for and handed down, he wrote down the words “lib- erty and justice.” To bring that purpose to pass, he later said, was all one coun- try could do. And if liberty

Make Connections The former Youth’s Companion office build-

ing in Boston is now known as “The Pledge of Allegiance Building.” It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

and justice were exercised “for all,” they evoked the spir- it of equality and fraternity that Bellamy admired in the French slogan. As he finished putting the words to paper, a cooling Boston sea breeze came into the window. Bellamy went to his door and shouted for Upham, who had been wait- ing in another room: “Come and hear what I’ve got!” What Bellamy had on that August day in 1892 were the 23 words that constituted the first nationally accept- ed pledge of allegiance to the American flag. That first pledge was written this way: “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which is stands—one Nation indivisible—with liberty and justice for all.” Other words would be added to this pledge in later decades, but its intent and meaning would remain the same. As years passed and generations of schoolchildren made the pledge a part of their daily classroom ritual , the pledge became one of the first patriotic sentiments learned by youth, and one of the last forgotten in old age. After reading Bellamy’s pledge that night, Upham

13 “Come and Hear What I’ve Got!”

recognized the lasting power of his colleague’s effort. “This has been a great night’s work,” Upham said. “I can’t help thinking that this thing you have written will last long after both you and I are dead.” Bellamy was not as confident. It had been part of the day’s work, he would later write, work he had been “heaved” into and that had left him tired. Later, thinking about the pledge, Bellamy wrote: 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 ‘repub- lic for which is 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 speci- fy 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 doc- trine of liberty and justice for all.

Text-Dependent Questions What was the 1892 National School Celebration? What was it intended to celebrate?

Research Project The word “patriotism” is defined at the start of this chapter. But how does patriotism come into play in your everyday life? Write a one-page essay explaining what patrio- tism is, and what it means to you.

Words to Understand

anonymous— An unknown or unnamed source or origin. creed— a set of fundamental beliefs. extravaganza— a lavish or spectacular show or event. prominence— notable, leading, eminent. socialist— a person who advocates a political system in which there is no private ownership of property.The government owns the means of production and distribution of goods, and the pro- ceeds are shared equally with the workers.

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