What would the Founders think?

A sincere thank you to Michael Schneider for his Aug. 2 letter (“Francis Bellamy and the pledge”) further illuminating the origins of the Pledge of Allegiance.

In 1954, when President Eisenhower initiated the addition of “under God,” I was a student at Jefferson grade school. My 6th-grade teacher gave our whole class an assignment of researching the history of the pledge. So, understanding that it came about as a contest to help bolster the purchases of the flag intended for all classrooms was learned and roundly discussed by our class.

In the years that have passed since that assignment, many a thought has been given to my teacher’s underlying motives for that assignment. It certainly created a curiosity in my mind for exploring the “origins” of many things that might otherwise been taken for granted and, in turn, that led to a lifelong love of history and nonfiction works.

Two years later came another change from our president when the United States’ motto of “E Pluribus Unum” (Out of many, One), created by the Founding Fathers in 1776, was changed to “In God We Trust.” It left questions then, and still now, of how those of that 1776 era might have felt about this 1956 change? As with learning the full history of our pledge, this seems yet another interesting subject to explore and discuss.

Suzi Johns

Spokane