STB-MR82
Music by J. L. F. Mendelssohn
BROTHER FRANCIS BELLAMY
Author of
"THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE"
This tribute to Bro. Francis Bellamy was written by Bro. John R. Nocas, 33 ø, PGHP, and condensed by him for use as a Short Talk Bulletin.
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'THE PLEDGE IN BELLAMYS HANDWRITING
Who wrote the Pledge of Allegiance to our
Flag? Can you imagine a time when this was
not known?
Well, truth is stranger than fiction, for up
until 1939 it was not certain who had written
the Pledge, and what's more, until that time no
one seemed to care. Finally, in that year, after
years of research a committee of the U.S. Flag
Association ruled that Francis J. Bellamy had
indeed written our Pledge of Allegiance. Shown
above is the Pledge in his own handwriting. The
"to" was inserted for the sake of rhythm. The
Reverend Francis J. Bellamy was a Mason, a
member of Little Falls Lodge No. 181, Little
Falls, New York. The Order of the Eastern Star
erected a memorial tablet to him in 1955 in
Oriskany, New York.
At the First National Flag Conference in
Washington, D.C., June 14, 1923, the words
"the Flag of the United States" was substituted
for "my flag." The change was made on the
grounds that those born in foreign countries
might have in mind the flag of their native land
when giving the Pledge. The Second National
Flag Conference in Washington on Flag Day,
1924, added, for the sake of greater definition,
the words "of America." On Flag Day, 1954,
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an Act
of Congress adding the words "under God."
For greater meaning and proper presentation
when reciting the Pledge there should be only
three pauses: 1. After "America;" 2. after
"stands;" and 3. after "indivisible."
Due to the fact that no author was mentioned when the Pledge appeared in 1892, few
knew who actually had written it and in time its
origin was completely veiled in obscurity. This
is the story of how the Pledge of Allegiance
came into being, and of a long-delayed tribute
to its author.
James B. Upham was a man imbued with
patriotic fervor. At the close of the last century
he was a partner of the firm publishing the
Youth's Companion, a juvenile periodical of
Boston. One of his strong beliefs was that an
American flag should be flown over every
schoolhouse. To this end he persuaded his magazine to sponsor a plan to sell flags to schools at
cost; the idea being so successful that 25,000
schools acquired flags in just one year. He also
campaigned to have flags flown over public
buildings--his success in this endeavor is clearly
evident today. Brother and Sir Knight James B.
Upham is known as the "Father" of the movement to display flags in schools and in public
places. We Masons, who pride ourselves on our
patriotism, salute him! He was a member of
Converse Lodge, Malden, Mass.
Brother Upham had still another idea--that
on Columbus Day, 1892, the 400th anniversary
of the discovery of America, every public
school in the land would hold a flag-raising
ceremony under the most impressive circumstances, and every school child rededicate himself in love and service to his country. Upham
conceived this as a National Public School
Celebration of Columbus Day.
Daniel S. Ford, the owner of the Youth's
Companion and uncle of James Upham, appointed Francis Bellamy, a member of the
Youth's Companion staff, the national chairman of a committee to enlist the support of
educators, mayors, governors and members of
Congress in this tremendous undertaking. The
results of their labors surpassed their fondest
dreams, for the President of the United States,
Benjamin Harrison, enthusiastically endorsed
the plan and declared a national holiday for
Columbus Day, October 21, 1892.
There was great excitement in the schools
throughout the land during the months preceding the great day of celebration. Committees
were busy at every school, planning the Columbus Day program down to its finest detail. It
was understood by all that the climax and the
most important and impressive part of the ceremony would be the raising of the Flag and the
salute to it by the students. In preparing the
suggested program for the Columbus Day
Observance to be printed in the Youth's Companion, James Upham hesitated when he came
to the salute by the students. He was not entirely satisfied with the "Balch" salute, then in
common usage. This was written in 1887 by
Colonel George T. Balch, and went:
'' We give our heads and our hearts to
God and our country--
One country, one language, one flag. ''
A variation of this was:
"I give my heart and my hand to my
Country:
One country, one language, one flag. ''
Upham discussed his dilemma with Francis
Bellamy and asked for his help. Here is
Bellamy's account of the thoughts that went
through his mind as he wrote the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag--note the attention he gave to
each word of the Pledge:
Mr. Upham and I spent many hours in considering the revision of this salute. Each one suggested that the other write a new salute. It was
my thought that a vow of loyalty or allegiance to
the flag should be the dominant idea. I especially
stressed the word ''allegiance. '' So Mr. Upham
told me to try it out on that line.
It was a warm evening in August, 1892, in
my office in Boston, that I shut myself in my
room alone to formulate the actual pledge.
Beginning with the new word "allegiance," I
first decided that pledge was a better school
word than "vow" or "swear''; and that the
first person singular should be used, and that
''my" flag was preferable to "the'' When
those first words, "I pledge allegiance to my
flag'' looked up at me from the scratch paper,
the start appeared promising. Then: should it
be "country,'' "nation," or ''Republic?"
"Republic'' won because it distinguished the
form of government chosen by the fathers and
established by the Revolution. The true reason
for allegiance to the flag is the ''Republic for
which it stands."
Now how should the vista be widened so as
to teach the national fundamentals? I laid down
my pencil and tried to pass our history in review. It took in the sayings of Washington, the
arguments of Hamilton, the Webster-Hayne
debate, the speeches of Seward and Lincoln,
the Civil War. After many attempts, all that
pictured struggle reduced itself to three words,
"One Nation, indivisible. ''
To reach that compact brevity, conveying
the facts of a single nationality and of an indivisibility both of states and of common interests, was as I recall, the most arduous phase of
the task, and the discarded experiments at
phrasing overflowed the scrap basket.
But what of the present and future of this
indivisible Nation here presented for allegiance?
What were the old and fought-out issues which
always will be issues to be fought for? Especially, what were the basic national doctrines bearing upon the acute questions already agitating
the public mind? Here was a temptation to
repeat the historic slogan of the French Revolution, imported by Jefferson, ''liberty, equality,
fraternity. '' But that was rather quickly rejected
as fraternity was too remote of realization, and
equality was a dubious word. What doctrines,
then, would everybody agree upon as the basis
of Americanism? ''Liberty and Justice'' were
surely basic, were undebatable, and were all
that any one Nation could handle. If these were
exercised ''for all'' they involved the spirit of
equality and fraternity. So that final line came
with a cheering rush. As a clincher, it seemed to
assemble the past and to promise the future.
That, I remember, is how the sequence of
ideas grew and how the words were found. I
called for Mr. Upham and repeated it to him
with full emphasis.
"I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the
Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all. ''
Thus was our Pledge of Allegiance born--
and it was proclaimed with great rejoicing
throughout the land on October 21, 1892. In
writing the Pledge Bellamy was only fulfilling
one of his many assignments for the magazine,
but those who knew the man himself knew also
that he was fulfilling a deep desire to compose a
simple dignified message of loyalty which
would convey the truest and most noble sentiments of a devoted patriot toward his native
land. All Masons salute him!
Francis J. Bellamy was born on May 18,
1855, in the town of Mount Morris, New York.
His father, the Reverend David Bellamy, minister of the First Baptist Church, was 50 when
Francis was born and had recently married a second time. Francis received his early education
in the public schools of Rome, New York,
where, in 1859, his father became minister of
the First Baptist Church. He graduated from
the Rome Free Academy in 1872.
After high school Bellamy entered the University of Rochester, graduating in 1876 at the
age of 21. He then attended the Rochester Theological Seminary, completed his training there
and was ordained in 1879. A year later he accepted his first pastorate at the First Baptist
Church in Little Falls, New York. In 1885 he
left the Little Falls church to assume the pastorate of Boston's Dearborn Street Baptist
Church. His next and last church was the
Bethany Baptist Church of Boston. In 1891 he
joined the staff of the Youth's Companion.
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