<P> The Pledge of Allegiance, as it exists in its current form, was composed in August 1892 by Francis Bellamy (1855--1931), who was a Baptist minister, a Christian socialist, and the cousin of socialist utopian novelist Edward Bellamy (1850--1898). There did exist a previous version created by Rear Admiral George Balch, a veteran of the Civil War, who later become auditor of the New York Board of Education . Balch's pledge, which existed contemporaneously with the Bellamy version until the 1923 National Flag Conference, read: </P> <P> We give our heads and hearts to God and our country; one country, one language, one flag! </P> <P> Balch was a proponent of teaching children, especially those of immigrants, loyalty to the United States, even going so far as to write a book on the subject and work with both the government and private organizations to distribute flags to every classroom and school . Balch's pledge, which predates Bellamy's by 5 years and was embraced by many schools, by the Daughters of the American Revolution until the 1910s, and by the Grand Army of the Republic until the 1923 National Flag Conference, is often overlooked when discussing the history of the Pledge . Bellamy, however, did not approve of the pledge as Balch had written it, referring to the text as "too juvenile and lacking in dignity ." The Bellamy "Pledge of Allegiance" was first published in the September 8 issue of the popular children's magazine The Youth's Companion as part of the National Public - School Celebration of Columbus Day, a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas . The event was conceived and promoted by James B. Upham, a marketer for the magazine, as a campaign to instill the idea of American nationalism in students and to sell flags to public schools . According to author Margarette S. Miller, this campaign was in line both with Upham's patriotic vision as well as with his commercial interest . According to Miller, Upham "would often say to his wife:' Mary, if I can instill into the minds of our American youth a love for their country and the principles on which it was founded, and create in them an ambition to carry on with the ideals which the early founders wrote into The Constitution, I shall not have lived in vain ."' </P> <P> Bellamy's original Pledge read: </P>

Who started the pledge of allegiance in schools
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