The Bellamy Salute

Students observing the Bellamy Salute to the Flag prior to 1942
The official US flag salute while reciting the Pledge

Before you think that this entry is a joke in bad taste, the students (left) were reciting the Pledge of Allegiance with the official (government mandated) salute prior to 1942 (later changed to hand over heart).

Being a fairly big fan of history and, in particular, US government history about the time of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, Schubert, Hummel, Stamitz and a whole raft of European composers who were contemporaries with Franklin, Adams, Jefferson and the rest of our founding braintrust, I've come to my own personal conclusion that the 80-20 theory was alive and well.  My version of it is that in the last 20 years of a century and extending through the first 20 of the following, there were a lot of really big things going on, people born in, nations launched and stuff figured out.  These 40 years or so were pretty powerful stuff and the cycle goes back a long way.  The years in between seem, historically, to be filled with hot and cold wars and in our country alone the French/Indian wars, Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWII, Korea, Vietnam etc....not inclusive and not perfect but an observation.

Of particular note in this wandering history lesson were our Federalist Papers - the public debate regarding our (United States) Consitution.  In short, these essays explained how things were going to work between the Federal Government in formation and the various States and people therein.  A lot of it is pretty boring stuff, a lot of it is taken out of context, and a lot of it simply isn't in the discussion; gun rights (2 mentions of the militia) and the pledge of allegiance (not at all).

On Facebook last night, someone posted the question (left) and it came from a Facebook page called the Federalist Papers.  Let's be straight here, the pledge isn't  mentioned at all nor did it come into being until 1892.  The versions are:

1892
"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
1892 to 1923
"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the republic for which it stands: one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
1923 to 1924
"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States and to the republic for which it stands: one Nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all."
1924 to 1954
"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."
1954 to Present
"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."

It probably won't sit well to find that a fellow named Bellamy, who wrote the pledge, was in the flag selling business (to schools) and that he used the 1892 four hundreth anniversary of Columbus Day to launch this enterprise.  Hey. If you said a pledge to a flag, you needed a flag.  He sold 25,000 of them that year.

Bellamy was also a socialist (ohhhh that word) and wanted to add the Frenchified "liberty, equality, fraternity" but settled on liberty and justice. All the indivisible stuff was likely a carry-over from the Civil War and the "under God" was tossed in during the Eisenhower administration in response to the Cold War "commie behind every tree" notion. The equality part was left out because that would mean women might get to vote and African Americans would be - gasp!! - equal.  That wouldn't sell flags.

But let's get this straight.  The Pledge had zero to do with the founding fathers, the federalist papers, and God-fearing citizens but everything to do with selling flags.  The march below is "On Parade; The Lion Tamer" by Sousa, c.1892, (another 80-20 bright light)