So the Pledge of Allegiance is in the news again.

Let's take a look at it in the original form from September 1892:

I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands; one Nation, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all. -- Reverend Francis Bellamy

That was it, short and to the point. I find two things interesting. The first is that the pledge is to "my Flag" which signifies a direct connection. It's not just a thing belonging to some collective entity, it is one's own thing and representation of oneself as well as one's country. The second thing is that there is no mention of God at all, despite the author being a Reverend. That's right, a Reverend didn't see fit to mention God in the Pledge that he himself wrote. He had a good reason. Church is church and state is state. The less business each has with the other, the better off they both are, and the better off everyone is.

Now, it's not that the Reverend left his work unaltered. Nope, he changed it. Here it is after an alteration in October 1892:

I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands; one Nation, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.

The change is fairly minor. He added the second instance of the word 'to' in this version. That was it. That was all the change he thought was needed.

Today's official Pledge looks a bit different. The other changes were done by other people. Or perhaps I should say were committed by committees.

( The Other Changes )

There are couple more items of interest. One is that the Pledge that Reverend Bellamy wrote was not the only choice. There was already another salute to the flag, written by George T. Balch:

The students in his New York Public Schools gave his "American Patriotic Salute" as follows: students touched first their foreheads, then their hearts, reciting, "We give our Heads - and our Hearts - to God and our Country." Then with a right arm outstretched and palms down in the direction of the flag, they competed the salute "One Country! One Language! One Flag!" (from Pledge Questions and Answers)

The other interesting item is that there are some state Pledges (so much for Balch's "One Flag") that are similar to the national Pledge, but do not include the words "under God." These states are Arkansas, Georgia and Texas. (from Pledge Questions and Answers)