Francis Julius Bellamy (May 18, 1855 - August 28, 1931) was a minister,
a graduate of the University of Rochester, and he composed the original
Pledge of Allegiance.
Francis also influenced his cousin [[Edward Bellamy]], the author of the
socialist utopian novel Looking Backward (1888). According to Erich Fromm,
Bellamy's book Looking Backward 2000-1887 is "...is one of the few
books ever published that created almost immediately on its appearance
a political mass movement." (Fromm, p vi). It was the third largest bestseller
of its time. It influenced a large number of intellectuals, and appears
by title in many of the major Marxist writings of the day. "Nationalism
Clubs" sprang up all over the United States and worldwide for discussing
and propagating the book's ideas. Francis was a charter member of the first
Nationalist Club of Boston, and promoted Edward Bellamy's Nationalist creed
in written articles. The book was tranlsated into every major language including
German, Russian and Chinese. It influenced socialists worldwide, including
those countries in the socialist Wholecaust (of which the Holocaust was
a part): 65 million dead under the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics;
49 million under the Peoples' Republic of China; 21 million under the National
Socialist German Workers' Party.
Both cousins espoused what they called "Christian Socialism." Bellamy
lost his position in the ministry because he used it as a pulpit for his
"Christian Socialism" theology. After leaving there, Francis continued
to push his plans, but switched to using the government and government schools
as a mandatory method to promote his ideas.
It was at that time that he took a job at the Youth's Companion Magazine
where he eventually penned his pledge. The people who hired Bellamy at the
Youth’s Companion and who gave him his pledge assignment were familiar with,
and embraced, Bellamy's "Christian socialism." Francis had written
and worked for his theology openly before then. In addition, Francis
and Edward had been openly involved in the national socialism movement and
the "Nationalist" magazine, published by the "Nationalist Educational Association."
The Pledge was originally part of a larger Colombus Day ceremony that
is replete with religious references. The ceremony also expressed the Bellamy
desire for the government to take over the education of all children and
to turn all schools into government schools. The Youth's Companion Magazine
aided the Bellamy ideas by promoting a national flag over every government
school and that is why there are many laws today that require the federal
flag to be displayed in every classroom, along with a daily chanting of the
pledge.
The Pledge was published in the September 8, 1892, issue of the magazine,
and immediately put to use in the campaign. Bellamy went to speak to a national
meeting of school superintendents in government schools to promote the celebration;
the convention liked the idea and selected a committee of leading educators
to implement the program, including the immediate past president of the National
Education Association. Bellamy was selected as the chair and he received
the official blessing of government educators.
As part of the ceremony, flag raising was planned and the idea of a pledge
developed along with the desire for a gesture as part of the pledge. The
Bellamys adored the military and they wanted the entire economy to be nationalized
and emulate the military. They also called their dogma “military socialism”
and they wanted government to take over all schools in order to create the
“industrial army” from schoolchildren and spread their vision. The Pledge
of Allegiance fit with that vision and Francis was pleased to adopt his co-worker’s
suggestion that the pledge should have as its initial gesture the military
salute. http://rexcurry.net/francis%20bellamy.jpg
The initial military salute was held for the phrase “I pledge allegiance”
and then the hand was extended outward toward the flag. In actual use,
the second part of the gesture was performed with a straight arm and palm
down by children extending the military salute while perfunctorily performing
the forced ritual chanting. Photographs confirm it and that is why
such photographs are never shown in schools, in the media, in court decisions,
and are difficult to find. Due to the way that both gestures were
used sequentially in the pledge, the military salute led to the salute of
the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSGWP), as discovered by the
historian Dr. Rex Curry. The NSGWP salute is an extended military salute
via the pledge. Shocking historic photographs of the early Pledge salute
are suppressed and rare but can be found on the web. http://rexcurry.net/book1a1contents-pledge.html
The pledge became widespread in government schools, and many people were
persecuted for refusing to chant the Bellamy pledge and for refusing to
give Bellamy's straight-arm salute to the national flag. That was
the national flag of the USA and of Germany. It was happening in the USA
(to the stars and stripes) and in Germany (to the swastika flag) at the
same time. Some of the people who refused to chant and salute were
religious people who considered the act sacrilegious. They were good reasons
to consider the pledge and the salute to be the sacrilegious worship of
government. Most people do not know that a cross was worshiped as the notorious
symbol of the National Socialist German Workers' Party. The group called
their symbol the Hakenkreuz, not the swastika. Hakenkreuz means "hooked
cross." Although the swastika was an ancient symbol, Professor Rex Curry
discovered that it was also used sometimes by German National Socialists
to represent "S" letters for their "socialism." With a 45 degree turn
of his Hakenkreuz, the leader of German National Socialists combined the
cross with collectivism, merged church and state, meshed religion and socialism,
and mandated the worship of government. http://rexcurry.net/book1a1contents-swastika.html
The Bellamys were bigots, racists, and xenophobes and they obsessed about
immigrants coming into the USA. They wanted to government to take over
education and use schools to change everyone and try to make everyone "equal."
When the government granted their wish and began taking over schools, the
government schools imposed segregation by law and taught racism as official
government policy. It served as a horrid example for three decades leading
to the beginning of the National Socialist German Workers' Party and the
practice in the USA even outlasted the Party by more than 15 years.
Francis Bellamy is buried in Rome, New York.
*****************
The American Educational Review: A Monthly Review of the Progress of Higher
Education September 1911 to October 1912, on Page 368 makes a reference
to the following article: Unfamiliar Philadelphia, by Francis Bellamy (Delineator)
From Magazines in the month of April. Something about the most unfamiliar
big city in America.
Tudor Tracts, 1532-1588 By Albert Frederick Pollard, Thomas Seccombe, Library
of Congress Division of Bibliography Page 18 references the following:
1898. Taking away the negro's ballot. Francis Bellamy. Illustrated American,
vol. 23 (Jan. 15, 1898): 72.
The American Monthly Review of Reviews edited by Albert Shaw Page 623
Francis Bellamy, starting from the modern creed, “Brains may be more important
than money, but nowadays the best way to convince the world that you have
brains is to make money," proceeds to outline the careers of "Sucessful
Men Who Are Not Rich." "If people in gerneral have apparently scuttled over
to the new bigotry, that the only success worth winning is the getting of
money, there are still plenty of men, of vigourous mind, who have a saner
view of life and happiness."
The School Bulletin and New York State Educational Journal March
1904, XLV, Page 133 or 178 references the following: 7. Songs of the Lyceum
League. Leatherette, small 4to, pp. 48, 20 cts. This is a collection prepared
by Mr. Francis Bellamy for the Lyceum League of America. Besides patriotic
songs, many of them original and copyrighted, it has a choice selection
of others for the school and family.
National Educational Association [Boston] p 256 It is impossible to give
statistical results of this school celebration. The press reports, however,
indicated it to be general throughout all the States and Territories of
the Republic. The South was not behind the North in doing honor to the schools
and to the flag, the Confederate veterans assisting the schools to raise
and salute the national flag and marching side by side in the review with
the Federal veterans....
***************
Francis Bellamy search
http://books.google.com/books?lr=&q=%22francis+bellamy%22+socialist&sa=N&start=10
Socialism and the American Spirit
Nicholas Paine Gilman
http://www.amazon.com/Socialism-and-the-American-Spirit/dp/B000K4WZGI/ref=ed_oe_d/103-9042105-5179818
Congress did not tamper with the language of the Pledge until 1954.
Three large civic groups were involved in altering the pledge (two
of them were military related): National Education Association, the American
Legion, and Daughters of the American Revolution,
********************
The Review of Reviews - Page 178
by W. T. (William Thomas) Stead - 1936
IN PRAISE OF THE RULE OF MAJORITIES
The Rev. Francis Bellamy, replying to the editor's recent denunciation
of Socialism, makes some remarks in praise of the tolerance of majorities
which tend to confirm the belief in the direct government of the people
by the people:-
Rev. Francis Bellamy also wrote "The Tyranny Of All The People"
**************
The American Educational Review: A Monthly Review of the Progress of
Higher Education Page 368
Unfamiliar Philadelphia, by Francis Bellamy (Delineator). Something
about the most unfamiliar big city in America.
********************
FRANCIS BELLAMY
THE LAW JOURNAL REPORTS FOR THE YEAR 1857 - Page 802
by montagu chambers and francis towers streeten
There is no question of priority here between the appellants and Francis
Bellamy,
the plain- tiffin the first suit. The appellants claim-ing under the
...
