The Pledge of Allegiance — Not What You Think
The original pledge was written by a socialist and made no mention of God
It is ironic that the Pledge of Allegiance is used to represent freedom, often against socialism, when it was in fact a socialist that penned the pledge in 1892 by Francis Bellamy. “The Pledge of Allegiance was written in August of 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister and ardent proponent of what he called Christian Socialism.” He taught that the true meaning of the gospel was socialism and that America needed to adopt it as soon as possible if it was to survive into the modern era. He frequently delivered sermons with titles such as Jesus the Socialist and The Socialism of the Primitive Church.” (McDaniel). In fact, Bellamy was going to use the words equality and fraternity instead of liberty and justice. Why did he choose against his first inclination? That would be because the word equality would imply that women and African Americans deserved equal rights.
The pledge was published in The Youth’s Companion, a magazine for children. The first published pledge read:
“I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
