ABSTRACT
America's most common form of paying respect to a national emblem or symbol, the flag salute, started as part of a nationwide public school observance in 1892 honoring the 400-year anniversary of Colum- bus's discovery of America. By 1935 twenty-four states had statutes requiring instruction in flag respect; nine specifically required that the flag-salute ceremony be conducted regularly in all public schools. In the mid-1930s a Witnesses leader endorsed refusal to salute and sparked a wave of refusals just as the flag salute became an issue again as war began raging in Europe. The court held that the compulsory flag salute violated the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment when the salute was enforced against Jehovah's Witnesses, and the federal appellate court affirmed this decision. The Court held that the government could not compel citizens to express beliefs without violating freedom of speech, regardless of whether the objections to saluting the flag were religiously based.
