§ 4. — Pledge of allegiance to the flag; manner of delivery.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 4USC4]
TITLE 4--FLAG AND SEAL, SEAT OF GOVERNMENT, AND THE STATES
CHAPTER 1--THE FLAG
Sec. 4. Pledge of allegiance to the flag; manner of delivery
The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag: ``I pledge allegiance to the
Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it
stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for
all.'', should be rendered by standing at attention facing the flag with
the right hand over the heart. When not in uniform men should remove any
non-religious headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left
shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should
remain silent, face the flag, and render the military salute.
(Added Pub. L. 105-225, Sec. 2(a), Aug. 12, 1998, 112 Stat. 1494;
amended Pub. L. 107-293, Sec. 2(a), Nov. 13, 2002, 116 Stat. 2060.)
Historical and Revision Notes
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Revised Section Source (U.S. Code) Source (Statutes at Large)
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4..................................... 36:172. June 22, 1942, ch. 435, Sec. 7, 56
Stat. 380; Dec. 22, 1942, ch. 806,
Sec. 7, 56 Stat. 1077; Dec. 28, 1945,
ch. 607, 59 Stat. 668; June 14, 1954,
ch. 297, 68 Stat. 249; July 7, 1976,
Pub. L. 94-344, (19), 90 Stat. 813.
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Codification
Pub. L. 107-293, Sec. 2(b), Nov. 13, 2002, 116 Stat. 2060, provided
that: ``In codifying this subsection [probably should be ``section'',
meaning section 2 of Pub. L. 107-293, which amended this section], the
Office of the Law Revision Counsel shall show in the historical and
statutory notes that the 107th Congress reaffirmed the exact language
that has appeared in the Pledge for decades.''
Amendments
2002--Pub. L. 107-293 reenacted section catchline without change and
amended text generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: ``The
Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, `I pledge allegiance to the Flag of
the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands,
one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.',
should be rendered by standing at attention facing the flag with the
right hand over the heart. When not in uniform men should remove their
headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the
hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should remain silent, face
the flag, and render the military salute.''
Findings
Pub. L. 107-293, Sec. 1, Nov. 13, 2002, 116 Stat. 2057, provided
that: ``Congress finds the following:
``(1) On November 11, 1620, prior to embarking for the shores of
America, the Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact that declared:
`Having undertaken, for the Glory of God and the advancement of the
Christian Faith and honor of our King and country, a voyage to plant
the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia,'.
``(2) On July 4, 1776, America's Founding Fathers, after
appealing to the `Laws of Nature, and of Nature's God' to justify
their separation from Great Britain, then declared: `We hold these
Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that
among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness'.
``(3) In 1781, Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration
of Independence and later the Nation's third President, in his work
titled `Notes on the State of Virginia' wrote: `God who gave us life
gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure
when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the
minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God.
That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I
tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his
justice cannot sleep forever.'
``(4) On May 14, 1787, George Washington, as President of the
Constitutional Convention, rose to admonish and exhort the delegates
and declared: `If to please the people we offer what we ourselves
disapprove, how can we afterward defend our work? Let us raise a
standard to which the wise and the honest can repair; the event is
in the hand of God!'
``(5) On July 21, 1789, on the same day that it approved the
Establishment Clause concerning religion, the First Congress of the
United States also passed the Northwest Ordinance, providing for a
territorial government for lands northwest of the Ohio River, which
declared: `Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to
good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means
of education shall forever be encouraged.'
``(6) On September 25, 1789, the First Congress unanimously
approved a resolution calling on President George Washington to
proclaim a National Day of Thanksgiving for the people of the United
States by declaring, `a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be
observed by acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the many signal
favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity
peaceably to establish a constitution of government for their safety
and happiness.'
``(7) On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered
his Gettysburg Address on the site of the battle and declared: `It
is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining
before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion
to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of
devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have
died in vain--that this Nation, under God, shall have a new birth of
freedom--and that Government of the people, by the people, for the
people, shall not perish from the earth.'
``(8) On April 28, 1952, in the decision of the Supreme Court of
the United States in Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U.S. 306 (1952), in
which school children were allowed to be excused from public schools
for religious observances and education, Justice William O. Douglas,
in writing for the Court stated: `The First Amendment, however, does
not say that in every and all respects there shall be a separation
of Church and State. Rather, it studiously defines the manner, the
specific ways, in which there shall be no concern or union or
dependency one on the other. That is the common sense of the matter.
Otherwise the State and religion would be aliens to each other--
hostile, suspicious, and even unfriendly. Churches could not be
required to pay even property taxes. Municipalities would not be
permitted to render police or fire protection to religious groups.
Policemen who helped parishioners into their places of worship would
violate the Constitution. Prayers in our legislative halls; the
appeals to the Almighty in the messages of the Chief Executive; the
proclamations making Thanksgiving Day a holiday; ``so help me God''
in our courtroom oaths--these and all other references to the
Almighty that run through our laws, our public rituals, our
ceremonies would be flouting the First Amendment. A fastidious
atheist or agnostic could even object to the supplication with which
the Court opens each session: ``God save the United States and this
Honorable Court.'' '
``(9) On June 15, 1954, Congress passed and President Eisenhower
signed into law a statute that was clearly consistent with the text
and intent of the Constitution of the United States, that amended
the Pledge of Allegiance to read: `I pledge allegiance to the Flag
of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it
stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice
for all.'
``(10) On July 20, 1956, Congress proclaimed that the national
motto of the United States is `In God We Trust', and that motto is
inscribed above the main door of the Senate, behind the Chair of the
Speaker of the House of Representatives, and on the currency of the
United States.
``(11) On June 17, 1963, in the decision of the Supreme Court of
the United States in Abington School District v. Schempp, 374 U.S.
203 (1963), in which compulsory school prayer was held
unconstitutional, Justices Goldberg and Harlan, concurring in the
decision, stated: `But untutored devotion to the concept of
neutrality can lead to invocation or approval of results which
partake not simply of that noninterference and noninvolvement with
the religious which the Constitution commands, but of a brooding and
pervasive devotion to the secular and a passive, or even active,
hostility to the religious. Such results are not only not compelled
by the Constitution, but, it seems to me, are prohibited by it.
Neither government nor this Court can or should ignore the
significance of the fact that a vast portion of our people believe
in and worship God and that many of our legal, political, and
personal values derive historically from religious teachings.
Government must inevitably take cognizance of the existence of
religion and, indeed, under certain circumstances the First
Amendment may require that it do so.'
``(12) On March 5, 1984, in the decision of the Supreme Court of
the United States in Lynch v. Donelly, 465 U.S. 668 (1984), in which
a city government's display of a nativity scene was held to be
constitutional, Chief Justice Burger, writing for the Court, stated:
`There is an unbroken history of official acknowledgment by all
three branches of government of the role of religion in American
life from at least 1789 . . . [E]xamples of reference to our
religious heritage are found in the statutorily prescribed national
motto ``In God We Trust'' (36 U.S.C. 186) [now 36 U.S.C. 302], which
Congress and the President mandated for our currency, see (31 U.S.C.
5112(d)(1) (1982 ed.)), and in the language ``One Nation under
God'', as part of the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag.
That pledge is recited by many thousands of public school children--
and adults--every year . . . Art galleries supported by public
revenues display religious paintings of the 15th and 16th centuries,
predominantly inspired by one religious faith. The National Gallery
in Washington, maintained with Government support, for example, has
long exhibited masterpieces with religious messages, notably the
Last Supper, and paintings depicting the Birth of Christ, the
Crucifixion, and the Resurrection, among many others with explicit
Christian themes and messages. The very chamber in which oral
arguments on this case were heard is decorated with a notable and
permanent--not seasonal--symbol of religion: Moses with the Ten
Commandments. Congress has long provided chapels in the Capitol for
religious worship and meditation.'
``(13) On June 4, 1985, in the decision of the Supreme Court of
the United States in Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38 (1985), in
which a mandatory moment of silence to be used for meditation or
voluntary prayer was held unconstitutional, Justice O'Connor,
concurring in the judgment and addressing the contention that the
Court's holding would render the Pledge of Allegiance
unconstitutional because Congress amended it in 1954 to add the
words `under God,' stated `In my view, the words ``under God'' in
the Pledge, as codified at (36 U.S.C. 172) [now 4 U.S.C. 4], serve
as an acknowledgment of religion with ``the legitimate secular
purposes of solemnizing public occasions, [and] expressing
confidence in the future.'' '
``(14) On November 20, 1992, the United States Court of Appeals
for the 7th Circuit, in Sherman v. Community Consolidated School
District 21, 980 F.2d 437 (7th Cir. 1992), held that a school
district's policy for voluntary recitation of the Pledge of
Allegiance including the words `under God' was constitutional.
``(15) The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals erroneously held, in
Newdow v. U.S. Congress (9th Cir. June 26, 2002), that the Pledge of
Allegiance's use of the express religious reference `under God'
violates the First Amendment to the Constitution, and that,
therefore, a school district's policy and practice of teacher-led
voluntary recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance is
unconstitutional.
``(16) The erroneous rationale of the 9th Circuit Court of
Appeals in Newdow would lead to the absurd result that the
Constitution's use of the express religious reference `Year of our
Lord' in Article VII violates the First Amendment to the
Constitution, and that, therefore, a school district's policy and
practice of teacher-led voluntary recitations of the Constitution
itself would be unconstitutional.''
