How patriotic requirements made their way into schools

According to Cody Ewert from the University of Montana in his dissertation Lessons in Loyalty: American Patriotism and Education in the Progressive Era, patriotism being a substantial part of American culture holds its roots in the post-Civil War era. 

After the Civil War, the Northern and Southern states were highly divided. Organizations like the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) and the Woman’s Relief Corps (WRC) worked to instill patriotism in the nation and its children. The intent was to try and unify the country directly after a point of the significant political divide.

“Patriotism can act as a tool to be able to bring people together and find these commonalities and focus more on the things that we have in common [rather] than our differences,” Stone said.

The organizations created lesson plans designed to increase schoolchildren’s honor and pride for national symbols. The GAR and WRC also brought flags and symbols into schools to try and achieve this honor and pride.

Following in the footsteps of these organizations, according to the Washington Post, in 1900, Charles Skinner, the Superintendent of Public Instruction for New York, created a manual for patriotism. This manual was meant to be distributed in schools, pushing a similar idea as the GAR and WRC. The book itself has daily guides to significant events in American history and aids children in understanding American values.

The pledge itself came into existence in 1892 as a way of increasing patriotism throughout the United States and has had numerous changes since its conception.

In 1923, the words “my flag” were changed to “the flag of the United States of America” cementing its purpose to specifically increase patriotism in the United States. The words “under God” were also added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1953 at the start of the Cold War in an attempt to distinguish the United States from “godless Communism.”Additionally, the initial placement of the arm during the pledge resembled that of the Nazi salute, until that gesture became a symbol of the authoritarian regime of Adolf Hitler and the gesture was changed to placing one’s right hand over their heart.

In more recent history, Donald Trump, former president of the United States, issued an executive order to promote further patriotic education, called the 1776 Commission. 

During his term as president, Trump put forth the 1776 Commission in an effort to steer school curriculum away from the negatives surrounding the founding of the United States and instead focus on the “exceptional” nature of the United States saying that “the 1776 commission was a dispositive rebuttal of reckless ‘re-education’ attempts that seek to reframe American history around the idea that the United States is not an exceptional country but an evil one.”

On Jan. 20, 2021, President Joe Biden’s first day of office, he issued an executive order to dissolve the 1776 Commission. Biden was backed by a number of historians and experts who dismissed the plans that the 1776 Commission put forth as politically motivated and an attempt to erase and falsify America’s past.