Bellamys original Pledge read as follows: I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, aug 1892 Louis A. Bowman, an attorney from Illinois, was the first to initiate the addition of under God to the Pledges, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. feb 12, 1948 referring to the Gettysburg address that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom. which isnt exactly the same. Swearing of the Pledge is accompanied by a salute. An early version of the salute, adopted in 1892, was known as the Bellamy salute. It started with the hand outstretched toward the flag, palm down, and ended with the palm up. Because of the similarity between the Bellamy salute and the Nazi salute, developed later, the United States Congress instituted the hand-over-the-heart gesture as the salute to be rendered by civilians during the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem in the United States, instead of the Bellamy salute. Removal of the Bellamy salute occurred on December 22, 1942, when Congress amended the Flag Code language first passed into law on June 22, 1942. Many objections have been raised since the addition of the phrase under God to the Pledge in 1954. Critics[23] contend that a government requiring or promoting this phrase violates protections against the establishment of religion guaranteed in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. and you can read the Constitution if you wish to read what the founding fathers really wrote instead of assuming God has always been in every legal document since this country began.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 09:04:46 +0000