How a Children’s Newspaper Delivered America’s Pledge of Allegiance

In ‘This Week in History,’ to celebrate Columbus’s landing, a former minister wrote a pledge of allegiance, which Congress officially adopted 50 years later.

Children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in a public school in Norfolk, Va., in 1941. Library of Congress. Public Domain

When the publishing firm Upham, Ford & Olmstead purchased The Youth’s Companion in 1857, the small children’s publication of about 7,000 subscribers had been around for 30 years. It had been launched as an adjoiner to the Boston-based Congregationalist newspaper, The Recorder. Upham, Ford & Olmstead also owned the recently merged Christian Watchman & Reflector. For business reasons, The Youth’s Companion was published under the fictitious entity of Perry Mason & Co.

Shortly after the firm purchased the youth paper, the partners amicably went their separate ways, citing managerial differences. They split up the publications, with Daniel S. Ford receiving The Youth’s Companion.