Notes on 4 U.S.C. § 4 : US Code - Notes

Search Notes on 4 U.S.C. § 4 : US Code - Notes

(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       Source (U.S. Code)       Source (Statutes at Large) 
Section                                                           
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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                           
Amendment by Pub. L. 107-293 reaffirmed the exact language of the
Pledge, see section 2(b) of Pub. L. 107-293, set out as a
Reaffirmation of Language note below.
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."
REAFFIRMATION OF LANGUAGE                     
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."