I like the original one myself.

Which pledge do you pledge? On Dec. 28th in 1945, Congress officially sanctioned the Pledge of Allegiance, making it the official pledge for the U.S. flag. Although others had written similar salutes in the past, it was Francis Bellamy’s that first gained traction. While working for the family magazine Youth’s Companion, Bellamy, a Christian Socialist minister, was tasked to come up with a flag salute to coincide with the upcoming World’s Columbian Exposition. The owner of the magazine, James Upham, hoped to increase patriotic sentiment by introducing the pledge to public schools.

However, the pledge that was composed is not what is officially recognized today, as it went through several changes. Bellamy’s original composition, published in September, 1892 read, "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." By 1923, “my Flag” was changed to “the Flag,” and the pledge specifically mentioned that the flag it referred to was that of the United States of America. The word “to” had also been added before “the Republic” for better cadence. The pledge was first added to the U.S. Flag Code in 1942 as part of the official customs related to saluting and displaying the flag, but it was on December 28, 1945 when the Pledge of Allegiance received recognition as the official pledge.

The purpose of granting legal recognition to the pledge was to bolster patriotic sentiment, largely driven by World War II. But it was in 1954, during the Cold War, when the most controversial change to the pledge was made. At President Eisenhower’s suggestion, the phrase “under God” was added, as he and others felt that Christianity was in direct opposition to the communist ideology of the Soviet Union. The pledge had already seen its share of controversy when public schools in the past threatened expulsion to students who refused to recite it, which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to be unconstitutional 1943. No matter how one feels about the pledge’s exact wording, most American adults are probably thankful that they no longer have to recite it every day at 7 a.m.