Francis J. Bellamy

MASONIC BIOGRAPHIES

FAMOUS FREEMASONS

Francis Bellamy

May 18, 1855 - August 28, 1931

Francis Julius Bellamy, one-time Baptist minister and prominent member of the Christian Socialist movement, wrote the original USA Pledge of Allegiance, first published in the September 8, 1892, issue of The Youth’s Companion. Bellamy, then a committee chairman of the National Education Association, structured a public school programme around a flag raising ceremony and a flag salute—his "Pledge of Allegiance." This Pledge has since come under several—sometimes controversial—revisions. Bellamy’s original words were:

I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Bellamy considered adding the word "equality" to stand with "liberty and justice," but feared it would be too controversial. In 1924, against Bellamy’s wishes, the American Legion and Daughters of the American Revolution pressured the National Flag Conference to replace the words "my flag" with "the Flag of the United States of America." In 1954, under pressure from the Knights of Columbus, Congress officially added the words "under God."

Member:
Little Falls Lodge No. 181
Little Falls, NY

Source: deathdate: history.vineyard.net/pdgech4.htm; birthdate: web.americu.net/ambaptrome/francisbellamy.htm; "Julius": lib.rochester.edu/RBK/Bellamyf.stm; masonic affiliation: nymasons.org/

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