What Do We Show Loyalty to When We Say the Pledge of Allegience?

By Staff WriterLast Updated December 11, 2023

When Americans recite the Pledge of Allegiance, it is a show of loyalty to the United States of America. The pledge is commonly used in schools, at sporting events, or in public venues and meetings.

The Pledge of Allegiance currently used in the United States was written in 1892 by a minister named Francis Bellamy and formally adopted by Congress in 1942. The original text was nonspecific to the U.S., and its author hoped it could be used by any country in the world. Revisions in 1923 and 1954, respectively, added the phrases “the flag of the United States of America” and “under God.”