Pledge of Allegiance
Overview
 
The Pledge of Allegiance of the United States is an expression of loyalty to the federal flag
Flag of the United States
The national flag of the United States of America consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars alternating with rows...

 and the republic of the United States of America, originally composed by Christian Socialist Francis Bellamy
Francis Bellamy
Francis Julius Bellamy was an author, editor, and Baptist minister born in Mount Morris, New York. He attended Rome Free Academy in Rome, New York, the University of Rochester and the Rochester Theological Seminary . He was an American Baptist minister and Christian Socialist who wrote the...

 in 1892 and formally adopted by Congress as the pledge in 1942. The Pledge has been modified four times since its composition, with the most recent change adding the words "under God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

" in 1954.

Congressional
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

 sessions open with the recital of the Pledge, as do government meetings at local levels, and meetings held by many private organizations.
 
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