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Ohio State Pledge
"I salute the flag of the state of Ohio and pledge to the buckeye state respect and loyalty"
Adopted on November 1, 2002.
The year 2002 marked the one hundredth anniversary of Ohio's state flag. In 1901, architect John Eisenmann designed the flag, and the state legislature officially adopted the banner on May 9, 1902. To commemorate the flag's one hundredth birthday, the Ohio General Assembly adopted a pledge to the flag.
The pledge states, "I salute the flag of the state of Ohio and pledge to the Buckeye State respect and loyalty." According to the legislature, Ohio residents should recite the state pledge upon completing the "Pledge of Allegiance" to the United States flag.
Ohio State Pledge: Pledge to the Flag
Ohio Law
The law designating the official Ohio state pledge to the flag is found in the Ohio Revised Code, General Provisions, Chapter 5, Section 5.013.
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Chapter 5 - STATE INSIGNIA; SEALS; HOLIDAYS.
Section 5.01 - Ohio state flag.
Universal Citation: Ohio Rev Code § 5.01 (2013)
The flag of the state shall be burgee-shaped. It shall have three red and two white horizontal stripes that represent the roads and waterways of the
state. The union of the flag shall be seventeen five-pointed stars, white in a blue triangular field that represents the state's hills and valleys,
the base of which shall be the staff end or vertical edge of the flag, and the apex of which shall be the center of the middle red stripe. The stars
shall be grouped around a red disc superimposed upon a white circular "O." The thirteen stars grouped around the "O" represent
the original states of the United States and the four stars added to the peak of the triangle symbolize that Ohio was the seventeenth state admitted
to the union. The "O" represents the "O" in "Ohio" and suggests the state's nickname, the buckeye state. The proportional
dimensions of the flag and of its various parts shall be according to the official design on file in the office of the secretary of state. One state
flag of uniform dimensions shall be furnished to each company of the organized militia.
Effective Date: 11-01-2002
Section 5.013 - Pledge to the state flag.
Universal Citation: Ohio Rev Code § 5.013 (2013)
"I salute the flag of the state of Ohio and pledge to the buckeye state respect and loyalty" is hereby adopted as the official
pledge to the state flag. The pledge shall not replace, preempt, or be recited before the pledge of allegiance to the United States flag.
Effective Date: 11-01-2002
