TPM’s KELLI MARSHALL lays out the brief history of the pledge of allegiance:

In his book To the Flag: The Unlikely History of the Pledge of Allegiance, Richard J. Ellis digs further into the nation’s “patriotic” school program of 1892. Ellis writes that the creation of the Pledge actually reflected “two widespread anxieties among native-born Americans” at the time: the fear of new immigrants (especially in the Northeast), and the complacency of post-Civil War Americans oblivious to the dangers facing the country.

Source: The Strange History Behind The Pledge Of Allegiance

Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders’ correct and overly apologetic summary of the founding of our nation puts this in better perspective.