Words of the Pledge of Allegiance

[peteryoung]

I find the Pledge somewhat hard to break down to grammatical parts.

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.

My interpretation:

I pledge allegiance 1) to the flag of the USA, and 2) to the Republic for which it stands. The Republic is one indivisible Nation under God with liberty and justice for all.

Am I right? Any reply would be appreciately. Thanks.

[Casiopea]

"pledge" is a ditransitive verb. It takes two objects, like this,

I pledge (verb) allegiance (direct object) to the flag of the USA (indirect object)

"and" joins two like categories:

to the flag of the USA (indirect object) and to the republic for which it stands (indirect object).

[peteryoung]

Thanks, Casiopea!

Excuse me for another question:

What is the grammatical role of "one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all" ? Is this describing the word 'Republic'?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America , and to the Republic (which is one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all) for which it stands.

Is this correct? Thanks!

[Tdol]

I think the 'one nation...' refers to the Republic rather than the flag, which is a symbol.

[Casiopea]

Tdol has it.

Additionally, as a relative pronoun "which" refers back to the closest noun phrase:

. . . the Republic is one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[peteryoung]

Thank you both! :)