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You Might (Or Might Not) Be Surprised At How the Pledge of Allegiance Came About

You Might (Or Might Not) Be Surprised At How the Pledge of Allegiance Came About

Capitalism is a layered concept that is inextricable from the fabric of American society.

Case in point: This short video from NPR that talks about how the pledge of allegiance really became so widespread as to be recited in schools.

In a nutshell: Just like the national anthem being played at NFL games, it was just a marketing ploy. In an effort to present a more united United States post-Civil War, the publishers of the Youth’s Companion magazine gave free American flags to the students who sold more subscriptions. A copywriter created the pledge as part of that, and it took off and was in just about all schools by the time World War I started and people were at a nationalist peak.

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