2. The Pledge of Allegiance, attributed to socialist editor and clergyman Francis Bellamy.

3.  It was first published in 1892 in The Youth’s Companion, a children’s magazine for which Bellamy worked.

4.  The pledge was meant to echo the sentiments and ideals of Bellamy’s cousin, Edward Bellamy.

5.  Edward Bellamy is the author of the socialist utopian novel, Looking Backward

6. BBellamy crafted the pledge to be an oration to bolster the idea that the middle class could fashion a planned political and social economy, equitable for all.

7. President Benjamin Harrison issued a proclamation so that the pledge was first used in public schools on Columbus Day in 1892.

8. “I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the Republic for which it stands: one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”

9.  Some claimed The Youth’s Companion editor, James B. Upham wrote the pledge, but the U.S. flag Association ruled in 1939 to recognize Bellamy as the author.

10.  Students reciting the pledge of allegiance.

12.  In 1940 it was noticed that the Bellamy salute resembled another salute being used in Germany.  Congress formally replaced it with now-customary hand-on- heart during the pledge.

13.  Change #1: Flag Day in 1924, “the flag of the United States of America” was officially adopted as a substitution for the phrase “my flag”

14.  Change #2 – 1954: The words “under God” were added, after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic men’s service organization and other religious leaders who sermonized that the pledge needed to be distinguished from a similar orations used by “godless communists”

15.  The prospect of an atomic war between world superpowers so moved President Eisenhower that he directed Congress to add the two small but controversial words

16.  “From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and every rural school house, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty”

17. 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.”

18.  May of 1776 Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag.  June 14, 1777 the Continental Congress passed the first Flag Act.  13 stripes, alternate red and white  The Union would be 13 stars, white in a blue field.

19.  January 13, 1794 15 stripes and 15 stars  April, 4 1818 13 stripes and one star for each state  Several other changes

20.  The flag consists of 13 horizontal stripes.  7 red alternating with 6 white  The stripes represent the original 13 colonies.  The stars represent the 50 states of the Union.  The stripes, red symbolizes valor

21.  White symbolizes purity and innocence and blue represents vigilance, perseverance and justice.

22.  The flag should be flown in fair weather, unless the flag is designed for inclement weather use.  The flag should never be used for any advertising purpose. It should not be embroidered, printed or otherwise impressed on such articles as cushions, handkerchiefs, napkins, boxes, or anything intended to be discarded after temporary use.

23.  When the flag is lowered, no part of it should touch the ground or any other object; it should be received by waiting hands and arms.  To store the flag it should be folded neatly and ceremoniously.

24. The flag should never be used for receiving, holding, carrying, or delivering anything. When a flag is so worn it is no longer fit to serve as a symbol of our country, it should be destroyed by burning in a dignified manner.