So here are the questions?
- How many of you knew God was added in the past 40 years?
- How many of you believe that the elected officials of this country have actually read our governing documents?
- If we as a country actually lived up to the concepts embodied in our guiding documents what kind of country would we be?
- Why do we not speak of virtue anymore?
Official versions (changes in bold italics)
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 andto 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
1924 to 1954
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
1954 to Present
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
Further information: Oath of office of the President of the United States
In the United States, the oath of office for the President of the United States is specified in the U.S. Constitution (Article II, Section 1):
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
The oath may be sworn or affirmed (in which case it is called an affirmation instead of oath). Although not present in the text of the Constitution, it is customary for modern presidents to say "so help me God" after the end of the oath. For officers other than the President, the expression "So help me God" is explicitly prescribed, but the Judiciary Act of 1789 also explains when it can be omitted: (specifically for oaths taken by court clerks), "Which words, so help me God, shall be omitted in all cases where an affirmation is admitted instead of an oath."[15]
The Constitution specifies in Article VI, clause 3:
"The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."
For other officials, including members of Congress, it specifies they "shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation to support this constitution." At the start of each new U.S. Congress, in January of every odd-numbered year, those newly elected or re-elected Congressmen - the entire House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate - must recite an oath:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.[16]
This oath is also taken by the Vice President, members of the Cabinet, and all other civil and military officers and federal employees other than the President. While the oath-taking dates back to the First Congress in 1789, the current oath is a product of the 1860s, drafted by Civil War-era members of Congress intent on ensnaring traitors.
In 1789, the 1st United States Congress created a fourteen-word oath to fulfill the constitutional requirement: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States." It also passed the Judiciary Act of 1789, which established an additional oath taken by federal judges:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm), that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent on me, according to the best of my abilities and understanding, agreeably to the Constitution, and laws of the United States. So help me God.
The outbreak of the Civil War quickly transformed the routine act of oath-taking into one of enormous significance. In April 1861, a time of uncertain and shifting loyalties, President Abraham Lincoln ordered all federal civilian employees within the executive branch to take an expanded oath. When Congress convened for a brief emergency session in July, members echoed the president's action by enacting legislation requiring employees to take the expanded oath in support of the
When Congress returned for its regular session in December 1861, members who believed that the
The 1862 oath's second section incorporated a different rendering of the hastily drafted 1861 oath. Although Congress did not extend coverage of the Ironclad Test Oath to its own members, many took it voluntarily. Angered by those who refused this symbolic act during a wartime crisis, and determined to prevent the eventual return of prewar southern leaders to positions of power in the national government, congressional hard-liners eventually succeeded by 1864 in making the Test Oath mandatory for all members.
The Senate then revised its rules to require that members not only take the Test Oath orally, but also that they "subscribe" to it by signing a printed copy. This condition reflected a wartime practice in which military and civilian authorities required anyone wishing to do business with the federal government to sign a copy of the Test Oath. The current practice of newly sworn senators signing individual pages in an oath book dates from this period.
As tensions cooled during the decade following the Civil War, Congress enacted private legislation permitting particular former Confederates to take only the second section of the 1862 oath. An 1868 public law prescribed this alternative oath for "any person who has participated in the late rebellion, and from whom all legal disabilities arising therefrom have been removed by act of Congress." Northerners immediately pointed to the new law's unfair double standard that required loyal Unionists to take the Test Oath's harsh first section while permitting ex-Confederates to ignore it. In 1884, a new generation of lawmakers quietly repealed the first section of the Test Oath, leaving intact the current affirmation of constitutional allegiance.
The oaths of state and local officials are largely patterned on these. Typical would be the oath taken by all
I solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the
Federal judicial oaths
In the
I, XXX XXX, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as XXX under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.
The second oath that federal judges must take is this:[16]:
I, AB, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.
Federal statute specifically says that the latter oath "does not affect other oaths required by law."[16]
Military Oaths - Federal and State
See United States Uniformed Services Oath of Office.
The Constitution of the United States of America
- Preamble ["We the people"] (see annotations)
- Article I [The Legislative Branch] (see annotations)
o Section 1. [Legislative Power Vested] (see annotations)
o Section 2. [House of Representatives] (see annotations)
o Section 3. [Senate] (see annotations)
o Section 4. [Elections of Senators and Representatives] (see annotations)
o Section 5. [Rules of House and Senate] (see annotations)
o Section 6. [Compensation and Privileges of Members] (see annotations)
o Section 7. [Passage of Bills] (see annotations)
o Section 8. [Scope of Legislative Power] (see annotations)
o Section 9. [Limits on Legislative Power] (see annotations)
o Section 10. [Limits on States] (see annotations)
- Article II [The Presidency] (see annotations)
o Section 1. [Election, Installation, Removal] (see annotations)
o Section 2. [Presidential Power] (see annotations)
o Section 3. [State of the
o Section 4. [Impeachment] (see annotations)
- Article III [The Judiciary] (see annotations)
o Section 1. [Judicial Power Vested] (see annotations)
o Section 2. [Scope of Judicial Power] (see annotations)
o Section 3. [Treason] (see annotations)
- Article IV [The States] (see annotations)
o Section 1. [Full Faith and Credit] (see annotations)
o Section 2. [Privileges and Immunities, Extradiction, Fugitive Slaves] (see annotations)
o Section 3. [Admission of States] (see annotations)
o Section 4. [Guarantees to States] (see annotations)
- Article V [The Amendment Process] (see annotations)
- Article VI [Legal Status of the Constitution] (see annotations)
- Article VII [Ratification] (see annotations)
- Signers
- Amendment I [Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly, Petition (1791)] (see annotations)
- Amendment II [Right to Bear Arms (1791)] (see annotations)
- Amendment III [Quartering of Troops (1791)] (see annotations)
- Amendment IV [Search and Seizure (1791)] (see annotations)
- Amendment V [Grand Jury, Double Jeopardy, Self-Incrimination, Due Process (1791)] (see annotations)
- Amendment VI [Criminal Prosecutions - Jury Trial, Right to Confront and to Counsel (1791)] (see annotations)
- Amendment VII [Common Law Suits - Jury Trial (1791)] (see annotations)
- Amendment VIII [Excess Bail or Fines, Cruel and Unusual Punishment (1791)] (see annotations)
- Amendment IX [Non-Enumerated Rights (1791)] (see annotations)
- Amendment X [Rights Reserved to States (1791)] (see annotations)
- Amendment XI [Suits Against a State (1795)] (see annotations)
- Amendment XII [Election of President and Vice-President (1804)] (see annotations)
- Amendment XIII [Abolition of Slavery (1865)] (see annotations)
- Amendment XIV [Privileges and Immunities, Due Process, Equal Protection, Apportionment of Representatives, Civil War Disqualification and Debt (1868)] (see annotations)
- Amendment XV [Rights Not to Be Denied on Account of Race (1870)] (see annotations)
- Amendment XVI [Income Tax (1913)] (see annotations)
- Amendment XVII [Election of Senators (1913)] (see annotations)
- Amendment XVIII [Prohibition (1919)] (see annotations)
- Amendment XIX [Women's Right to Vote (1920)] (see annotations)
- Amendment XX [Presidential Term and Succession (1933)] (see annotations)
- Amendment XXI [Repeal of Prohibition (1933)] (see annotations)
- Amendment XXII [Two Term Limit on President (1951)] (see annotations)
- Amendment XXIII [Presidential Vote in D.C. (1961)] (see annotations)
- Amendment XXIV [Poll Tax (1964)] (see annotations)
- Amendment XXV [Presidential Succession (1967)] (see annotations)
- Amendment XXVI [Right to Vote at Age 18 (1971)] (see annotations)
- Amendment XXVII [Compensation of Members of Congress (1992)] (see annotations)
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