The Founding Fathers Never Pledged Allegiance to the Flag

I suggest reading the whole article at the link.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/lovejoyfeminism/2018/11/the-founding-fathers-never-pledged-allegiance-to-the-flag.html?fbclid=IwAR0jU9AG96PMdoD1iRpuuvUQ3HKOX5L2nyGnvB1-Ucb4EWsieZrnbIxZ3_s

November 29, 2018 by Libby Anne

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For all the Right’s adulation of the Pledge of Allegiance—which they insist our schoolchildren must recite daily—there was no Pledge of Allegiance until 1892. The Found Fathers never recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Beyond this, the words “Under God” were not added to the Pledge of Allegiance until 1954, during the Cold War.

Many Americans don’t seem to know any of this.

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So, why do we have a Pledge of Allegiance, then? I knew the basics, but I was suddenly curious as to the timing. Why then? Why did people suddenly like the idea of a pledge, when the Founding Fathers never thought one necessary (or, likely, even thought of the idea)? As I researched this question, I found this, in the Boston Review:

The origins of the pledge cannot be understood apart from the “flag movement” of the 1880s, which itself cannot be understood apart from the Civil War. Just as U.S. (that is, Union) flags became more omnipresent during the war, so “loyalty tests” also spread. People suspected of disloyalty were often arrested, eligible for pardon if they submitted to an “oath of allegiance” swearing to “support, protect and defend the Constitution and Government of the United States against all enemies, whether domestic or foreign,” and to “bear true faith, allegiance and loyalty to the same.”

This makes a whole lot of sense. After the Civil War, there would have been ongoing concern about who was loyal to the country—and who was not. It’s not surprising this concern would segue into patriotic flag waving and pledging.

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