Francis Julius Bellamy
Francis Bellamy was born in Rome, New York, May 18, 1855. He died August 28, 1931. His original Pledge of Allegiance was first published in a magazine called Youth’s Companion, a nationally circulated publication written for youngsters.
In 1888, Youth’s Companion began its campaign to sell American flags to public schools. For Francis Bellamy, this was more than a mere money-maker: it was an opportunity for him to spread his statist propaganda, and in the end Youth’s Companion became a supporter of the Schoolhouse Flag Project, which, under Bellamy’s watchful eye, aimed to place a flag above every public school in America.
His Pledge of Allegiance was first published in the September 8th (1892) issue of Youth’s Companion.
Along with the Pledge, the children were asked to perform the so-called Bellamy Salute (photo below).
Not four decades later, when the Nazi’s rose to power and began saluting in a similar manner, Franklin Roosevelt changed the salute to the hand-over-heart method we see today.
Francis Bellamy’s original Pledge of Allegiance, the recitation of which he intended to take no more than 15 seconds, went like so:
I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Here, in Bellamy’s own words, is why he chose the specific language that he chose for his Pledge:
It began as an intensive communing with salient points of our national history, from the Declaration of Independence onwards; with the makings of the Constitution … with the meaning of the Civil War; with the aspiration of the people…
The true reason for allegiance to the Flag is the ‘republic for which it stands’. …And what does that vast thing, the Republic mean? It is the concise political word for the Nation – the One Nation which the Civil War was fought to prove. To make that One Nation idea clear, we must specify that it is indivisible, as Webster and Lincoln used to repeat in their great speeches. And its future?
Just here arose the temptation of the historic slogan of the French Revolution which meant so much to Jefferson and his friends, ‘Liberty, equality, fraternity’. No, that would be too fanciful, too many thousands of years off in realization. But we as a nation do stand square on the doctrine of liberty and justice for all…
The phrase under God was incorporated into the Pledge on June 14, 1954. The man to introduce it was a fellow named Louis A. Bowman (1872-1959).
Here are the transmutations that the Pledge has undergone since its inception in 1892:
1892
“I pledge allegiance to my flag and the republic for which it stands: one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all.”1892 to 1923
“I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the republic for which it stands: one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all.”1923 to 1924
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States and to the republic for which it stands: one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all.”1924 to 1954
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands; one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all.”1954 to Present
“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.”
The Bellamy Salute
The problem, of course, with all this indivisibility talk is that the states were not necessarily intended to be indivisible. As Thomas Jefferson said:
If any state in the Union will declare that it prefers separation … to a continuance in union, I have no hesitation in saying, “let us separate” (Thomas Jefferson, 1816).
And John Quincy Adams — a devoted unionist — noted in a 1839 speech about secession:
[In] dissolving that which can no longer bind, we would have to leave the separated parts to be reunited by the law of political gravitation to the center.
If, then, you’ve ever wondered why it is when you hear the Pledge of Allegiance you feel as if you’re hearing the intonations of brainwashed drones, this is why:
The Pledge was a propaganda prayer written by a socialist who’s goal was to inculcate young minds with dogma.
And that’s the end of it.
Author’s Note: This article first appeared January 1st, 2010, on this website.
May 16th, 2010 at 7:26 am
So the heil salute was born in this country?
Say it aint so, Joe.
EJ
May 16th, 2010 at 7:24 pm
I’m afraid it’s so, bro.
It’s good to hear from you, EJ. Thank you for dropping by.
May 17th, 2010 at 11:49 am
Great post and you are on target. The Pledge of Allegiance was the origin of the Nazi salute (and the swastika -although an ancient symbol- was used to represent crossed S-shapes for “socialism” under the National Socialist German Workers Party).
Francis Bellamy (cousin of author Edward Bellamy) was a socialist in the Nationalism movement and authored the Pledge of Allegiance (1892), the origin of the stiff-armed salute adopted much later by the National Socialist German Workers Party. See the work of the symbologist Dr. Rex Curry. http://rexcurry.net/pledge2.html
See the image at http://rexcurry.net/pledge_of_allegiance.jpg
The early American stiff-armed salute was not an ancient Roman salute. That is a myth debunked by Dr. Curry, who showed that the myth came from the Pledge and from various facts including that Francis Bellamy grew up in Rome, N.Y., not Rome, Italy, and thereafter the Pledge salute was repeated in early films (some showing fictional scenes of ancient Rome). The reasons above and more led to the American stiff-armed salute being picked up later by German socialists and the National Socialist German Workers Party (under the influence of Adolf Hitler and the U.S. citizen and Harvard grad Ernst Hanfstaengl, a confidant of Hitler) and by Italian socialists under Benito Mussolini (who discovered the salute while he gained power as a socialist journalist writing for socialist newspapers, and later became an ally of the National Socialist German Workers Party). http://rexcurry.net/pledgerome.html
Francis Bellamy never used the term “Roman salute” when describing his pledge’s salute and he was not influenced by Jacques-Louis David’s painting “Oath of the Horatii.” One reason why Francis Bellamy never used the term “Roman salute” in any way is because the concept of the “Roman salute” did not exist when Bellamy wrote his pledge and for decades thereafter.
http://rexcurry.net/roman-salute-oxford-english-dictionary.html
Francis Bellamy clearly explained that his pledge began with a military salute that was then extended out toward the flag. In practice, the second gesture was performed palm-down with a stiff-arm when the military salute was merely pointed out at the flag by disinterested children forced to do Bellamy’s robotic chanting daily in government schools. That is how the straight-arm salute developed from Francis Bellamy’s Pledge of Allegiance and its use of the military salute (and how the USA’s Pledge salute led to the Nazi salute). http://rexcurry.net/pledge_military.html
That the concept of the “Roman salute” did not exist when Bellamy wrote his pledge (and for decades thereafter) also means that the concept of the “Roman salute” did not even exist when Jacques-Louis David lived and painted “Oath of the Horatii” and thus David was thinking of a real or imagined “Roman salute” when he painted the Horatii, nor did David ever use the term “Roman salute.” The Horatii lie (that the painting was the origin of the “Roman salute” myth) first appeared on Wikipedia, deliberately fabricated by a liar to cover-up Dr. Curry’s discovery that the Pledge was the origin of the Nazi salute. In the painting, 3 brothers are reaching for weapons (and the two figures in back are reaching with their left hands). The same liar who created the Horatii lie had, until he was debunked, previously claimed that the stiff-armed salute was an actual ancient Roman salute, and he posted the lie that Roman statues displaying “adlocutio” (a gesture made by a person speaking) showed “ancient Roman salutes.” The newly substituted Horatii lie has been mindlessly repeated by many people (as the adlocutio lie was repeated and still is) because wakipedia glorifies itself as an encyclopedia, even though it is merely an anonymous bulletin board where anyone can post anything. http://rexcurry.net/pledge_of_allegiance_videos_images.html
American national socialists (including Edward Bellamy), in cooperation with Madame Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society, popularized the use of the Swastika (an ancient symbol) as a modern symbol for socialism long before the symbol was adopted by the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazis) and used on its flag. http://rexcurry.net/book1a1contents-swastika.html
See also http://rexcurry.net/45th-infantry-division-swastika-sooner-soldiers.html
The Bellamys influenced the National Socialist German Workers Party and its dogma, rituals and symbols (e.g. robotic collective chanting to flags; and the modern use of the swastika as crossed S-letters for “Socialism” under German National Socialism). Similar alphabetical symbolism was used under the NSDAP for the “SS” division, the “SA,” the “NSV,” et cetera and similar symbolism is visible today as the VW logo (the letters “V” and “W” joined for “Volkswagen”). http://rexcurry.net/bookchapter4a1a2a1.html
The Bellamys wanted the government to take over all food, clothing, shelter, goods and services and create an “industrial army” to impose their “military socialism.” See the video documentary at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BssWWZ3XEe4
It is the same dogma that led to the socialist Wholecaust (of which the Holocaust was a part): ~60 million killed under the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; ~50 million under the Peoples’ Republic of China; ~20 million under the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. http://rexcurry.net/socialists.html
Today, the flag symbolizes authoritarianism in the USA. The historical facts above explain the enormous size and scope of government today, and the USA’s police state, and why it is growing so rapidly. They are reasons for minarchy: massive reductions in government, taxation, spending and socialism.
December 4th, 2010 at 11:46 am
Just curious where the references are? I don’t see any and would like to know where you got your information. I’m writing a paper about this and would like to cite you, but can’t seem to find anything to deem you a credible resource in my research paper (all my citations have to have resources. That means I can only use articles, no dictionaries and ect.). If you could e-mail me, point to where the references page is or post a response to this with that information I would be very grateful. Wonderful and interesting article. Thanks for putting it up! :-)
December 4th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
Hello Tana. Thank you for your comment. Much of my information comes from an old article entitled “The Story of the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag,” which appeared in the University of Rochester Library Bulletin, Vol. VIII, 1953.
The transmutations of the Pledge, from 1892 through the present, can be found in a great number of different places, such as Flag: An American Biography by Marc Leepson (2006), or here:
http://historyofthepledge.com/history.html
Or here:
http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/blog/grace-kelly/pledge-allegiance-was-just-ad-sell-magazines?print=1
John W. Baer wrote a typographically flawed but well-researched book on the subject called The Pledge Of Allegiance, A Revised History and Analysis.
Perhaps most interesting of all, the commenter directly above you, tom bell, has hyperlinks throughout his comment, which will take you to some absolutely fascinating old photos. I urge you to check them out. You won’t believe your eyes.
Thank you for dropping by.
January 21st, 2011 at 4:12 pm
I am curious where you found his birthplace to be Rome, NY? He was indeed raised in Rome, but his birthplace was in fact, Mount Morris, New York.
January 22nd, 2011 at 4:44 am
Thanks for the correction. Born in Mount Morris, raised in Rome.
November 17th, 2011 at 7:53 am
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December 30th, 2011 at 12:23 pm
I remember in the 1960′s there was something called the Bellamy Award. It was named after Francis Bellamy and was awarded (I believe annually) to the “best” (judges and rating criteria unknown) high school on a rotated state basis. High schools that had received the award previously would send a representative to the Bellamy Award Ceremony held in the hometown of the current recipient. I remember attending one such ceremony honoring Wausau High School in Wausau, Wisconsin in October of 1964. I was representing the State of Maryland as the SGA President at Annapolis High School, which had previously received the award. I believe that in 1964 there may have been fifteen to twenty states represented, New York, Virginia, Hawaii and Maryland among them. I have no idea how long this award may have continued after that or whether or not it is still given. I would be very surprised if it still existed. If anyone has additional knowledge on this, I would be interested in hearing.