Jackson wrote:. There is no mysticism in the American concept of the state or of the nature or origin of its authority. We set up government by consent of the governed, and the Bill of Rights denies those in power any legal opportunity to coerce that consent. Authority here is to be controlled by public opinion, not public opinion by authority.
If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. Obviously, none of these complaints reacted to the reference to God in the pledge, as the reference was not there yet. Morris case, a federal court asserted that students had the right to remain seated and silent during the pledge—putting the burden of nonconformity on the individual child.
Newdow v. Congress et al. Nevertheless, on the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the motto in , President George W. The Pledge of Allegiance and the motto are two particularly clear examples of the invention of traditions.
The U. Constitution, ratified in , specified no pledge or motto, and the country survived for more than a century without either, just as it possessed or needed no national anthem. In the process of nation-building in the late s and early s, made urgent by the trauma of the Civil War and the perceived menace of immigration and socialism, the United States created and promoted these and many other traditions for the express purpose of instilling national identity.
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A Political and Literary Forum. Menu Search Donate Shop Join. Few democracies require children to make a daily declaration of fealty to country. Sep 6, Topics: education history politics. While we have you Media Matchmaker: Episode 1. The Huntington Huddle: Episode 3. Hear Me Out: Episode 4. Hear Me Out: Episode 3. Hear Me Out: Episode 2. Meet our Fall opinion editors! Graphic by G. Prospective students and their families visiting N.
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The Huntington News. All rights reserved. Share on Facebook. Share on Twitter. If you were a child that attended elementary, middle and high school in the U. We were taught to repeat these words every single day but were never given a back-story as to where they came from and why it was so important to Pledge our allegiance. So, what were we pledging and why?
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