Introduction and Summary I Pledge Allegiance by June Swanson
with illustrations by Rick Hanson is a fantastic book that
teaches the history of the Pledge of Allegiance since it was
written by Francis Bellamy in 1892. School children actually
played a part in why the Pledge of Allegiance was written. To
celebrate the 400 year anniversary of Columbus discovering
America, Francis Bellamy and James Upham (two men from the
children’s magazine The Youth’s Companion) requested that
American children collect flags to be raised in their classrooms
to celebrate what would become Columbus Day. Together, these
children would say something to honor the flag. That is why
Bellamy wrote the very first pledge. The original version was “I
pledge allegiance to my flag and to the Republic for which it
stands–one nation indivisible–with liberty and justice for all.”
(p.14) The book then defines the words allegiance, Republic,
nation, indivisible, liberty and justice so that all school
children would know what the pledge meant. Th