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2019 AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS
ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION

SECTION II
Total time--2 hours and 15 minutes
Question 1
Suggested reading and writing time--55 minutes.

It is suggested that you spend 15 minutes reading the question, analyzing and evaluating the sources, and
40 minutes writing your response.
Note: You may begin writing your response before the reading period is over.
(This question counts for one-third of the total essay section score.)
The Pledge of Allegiance, first written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, has since been revised by various branches of
federal government. The modern version is written as follows: “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.” Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance also constitutes of removing headgear, placing their right hand over their
hearts, and facing the flag. Recitation of the Pledge occurs daily in most public schools around the United States.
Carefully read the following six sources, including the introductory information for each source. Then synthesize
material from at least three of the sources and incorporate it into a coherent, well-developed essay that defends,
challenges, or qualifies the notion that the daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in schools should be
enforced.
Your argument should be the focus of your essay. Use the sources to develop your argument and explain the
reasoning for it. Avoid merely summarizing the sources. Indicate clearly which sources you are drawing from,
whether through direct quotation, paraphrase, or summary. You may cite the sources as Source A, Source B, etc.,
or by using the descriptions in parentheses.
Source A (U.S. House of Representatives)

Source B (photo)
Source C (Hagg and Hauser)
Source D (Jungblut)
Source E (Gross)
Source F (Abbott)
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Source A
“4 USC 4: Pledge of allegiance to the flag; manner of

delivery.” Office of the Law of Revision Council: United
States Code,
http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC
-prelim-title4-section4&num=0&edition=prelim
The following is an excerpt from a government collection of amendments, findings, and notes.
On April 28, 1952, in the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U.S. 306
(1952), in which school children were allowed to be excused from public schools for religious observances and
education, Justice William O. Douglas, in writing for the Court stated: 'The First Amendment, however, does not
say that in every and all respects there shall be a separation of Church and State. Rather, it studiously defines the
manner, the specific ways, in which there shall be no concern or union or dependency one on the other. That is the
common sense of the matter. Otherwise the State and religion would be aliens to each other-hostile, suspicious,
and even unfriendly. Churches could not be required to pay even property taxes. Municipalities would not be
permitted to render police or fire protection to religious groups. Policemen who helped parishioners into their
places of worship would violate the Constitution. Prayers in our legislative halls; the appeals to the Almighty in
the messages of the Chief Executive; the proclamations making Thanksgiving Day a holiday; "so help me God" in
our courtroom oaths-these and all other references to the Almighty that run through our laws, our public rituals,
our ceremonies would be flouting the First Amendment. A fastidious atheist or agnostic could even object to the
supplication with which the Court opens each session: "God save the United States and this Honorable Court . . . .
On June 15, 1954, Congress passed and President Eisenhower signed into law a statute that was clearly consistent
with the text and intent of the Constitution of the United States, that amended the Pledge of Allegiance to read: '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’. . . .
On July 20, 1956, Congress proclaimed that the national motto of the United States is 'In God We Trust', and that
motto is inscribed above the main door of the Senate, behind the Chair of the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, and on the currency of the United States. . . .
On June 4, 1985, in the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38
(1985), in which a mandatory moment of silence to be used for meditation or voluntary prayer was held
unconstitutional, Justice O'Connor, concurring in the judgment and addressing the contention that the Court's
holding would render the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional because Congress amended it in 1954 to add the
words 'under God,' stated 'In my view, the words "under God" in the Pledge, as codified at (36 U.S.C. 172) [now 4
U.S.C. 4], serve as an acknowledgment of religion with "the legitimate secular purposes of solemnizing public
occasions, [and] expressing confidence in the future. . . .
On November 20, 1992, the United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, in Sherman v. Community
Consolidated School District 21, 980 F.2d 437 (7th Cir. 1992), held that a school district's policy for voluntary
recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance including the words 'under God' was constitutional. . . .


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The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals erroneously held, in Newdow v. U.S. Congress (9th Cir. June 26, 2002), that the
Pledge of Allegiance's use of the express religious reference 'under God' violates the First Amendment to the
Constitution, and that, therefore, a school district's policy and practice of teacher-led voluntary recitations of the
Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional.
Source: U.S. House of Representatives


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Source B
Robinson, Nathan J. “I Can’t Believe They Still Make

Students Recite the Pledge of Allegiance.” Current
Affairs, 25 June 2018, https://www.currentaffairs.org/
2018/06/i-cant-believe-they-still-make-students-recite-th
e-pledge-of-allegiance
The following picture was published in a culture and politics magazine.
Source: Current Affairs


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Source C
Hagg, Matthew. Hauser, Christine. “Florida Student, 11, Arrested

After Dispute Over His Refusal to Say Pledge of Allegiance.”
New York Times, 19 February 2019,
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/19/us/11-year-old-arrested.ht
ml
The following is an excerpt from an article published in a nationwide newspaper.
A sixth-grade student in Lakeland, Fla., who had refused to participate in the Pledge of Allegiance throughout the
school year, was arrested this month after he had a dispute with a substitute teacher who confronted him about
why he was not reciting it, the police said.
The case against the boy, 11, who was arrested on Feb. 4, has drawn outrage from the American Civil Liberties
Union and his mother, who have criticized the misdemeanor charges against him as an overreaction by Polk
County Public Schools and the middle school resource officer who arrested him. The boy told the teacher that he
did not stand because he believes the pledge represents racism. . . .
The boy’s family believes he was punished for expressing his First Amendment rights, Mr. Ford said. He said he
planned to file a civil-rights complaint with the federal Department of Education this week.
“The young man engaged in protected activity when he refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance but then he
engaged in protected speech when he stated his reasons,” he said. “We believe that the latter part is the major
concern because he says the national anthem stood for discriminatory treatment of blacks. That was the real
reason for the discrimination.”. . . .
“Why if it was so bad here he did not go to another place to live,” the teacher asked the boy, according to a
statement issued by the teacher and obtained by Bay News 9, a news station in St. Petersburg, Fla.
According to the teacher, the boy, who is black, responded, “They brought me here.”. . . .
A school resource officer with the Lakeland Police Department eventually responded to the classroom and
arrested the boy, who has not been identified publicly because of his age. A police spokesman declined to
comment or release the affidavit, citing the boy’s juvenile status.
On Monday, Polk County Public Schools also said in a statement that the student was arrested after becoming
disruptive and refusing to follow repeated instructions by members of the school staff and law enforcement. But
the school district added that it did not “condone the substitute’s behavior” and had not asked for the boy to be
arrested.
Polk County Public Schools said its student body code of conduct allows students not to participate in the Pledge
of Allegiance if they have written authorization from a parent. The substitute teacher was not aware of that policy,
the district said. . . .


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“If any disciplinary action should’ve been taken, it should’ve been with the school. He shouldn’t have been
arrested,” she said. Ms. Talbot, who did not return multiple messages seeking comment on Monday and Tuesday,
was no longer participating in interviews with the news media, Mr. Ford said. . .
“Students do not lose their First Amendment rights when they enter the schoolhouse gates,” the A.C.L.U. said
about the Lakeland case. “This is a prime example of the over-policing of Black students in school”. . .
The Lakeland Police Department said in a statement on Sunday that the boy was not arrested for refusing to
participate in the Pledge of Allegiance but on charges of disrupting the classroom. The school resource officer and
the dean of students “attempted to calm the student down” in the classroom, asking him to leave the room over 20
times, the police said.
“The student left the classroom and created another disturbance and made threats while he was escorted to the
office,” the police said. “This arrest was based on the student’s choice to disrupt the classroom, make threats and
resisting the officer’s efforts to leave the classroom.”
New York Times


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Source D
Jungblut, David. “Opinion: ‘Freedom’ is Why I Ask my

Students to Stand for the Pledge.” PBS, 5 February
2018,
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/freedom-is-
why-i-ask-my-students-to-stand-for-the-pledge
The following is an opinion piece by an established American educator, published on the website of a nationwide
educational platform.
In my 28 years of teaching, and long before the NFL protests in recent months, students had shared reasons why
they did not stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, including religious reasons. I used these occasions as teaching
moments to let students know that the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guaranteed the freedoms of
religion and speech. I explained that many people had died in order to protect those rights...
Last year, my final year as a high school teacher before retiring, I had two students who decided to take a knee
during the Pledge of Allegiance. I wondered why and framed the question in a way they might not have expected.
“Who died for you that gave you the right to stand or not?” I asked.
“No one,” the puzzled-looking students replied.
“I think you are mistaken. Many service members died in order to protect our country and give us our freedom.
Some of them may have been members of your family or mine.”
The students looked around and shook their heads. Yes, that teacher mode was now flowing. I felt it my
obligation to let students know something personal about my life, something I hoped they would never forget.
“You have the right to decide to stand or not or to take a knee, but you should know that people around you have
strong feelings about the issues and made sacrifices for your freedom and your rights.”
I let them know that my father and all my uncles fought in World War II or the Korean War and that my brother
in-law fought in Vietnam and my son-in-law completed two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. Personally, I did
not serve, but I am conscious of the critical role the military has played throughout my 64 years...
“You have the right to decide to stand or not or to take a knee, but you should know that people around you have
strong feelings about the issues and made sacrifices for your freedom and your rights,” I recall saying...
I told them that I understood and have had a number of students and friends who said they were frustrated to live
in a society in which “DWB” (“Driving While Black”) was a crime.
But I also wanted them to see that the lives lost fighting for freedom in the American Revolution, the Civil War
and the Civil Rights Movement, should also be respected.
I wanted them to understand what they were doing and why, because freedom isn’t something we can take lightly.
Source: Public Broadcasting Service


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Source E
Gross, Doug. “Why An Atlanta School Canceled the Pledge of

Allegiance?” Patch, 9 August 2018, https://patch.com/ge
orgia/atlanta/why-atlanta-school-canceled-pledge-allegianc
e
The following is an excerpt from a local news source based in Georgia.
A charter school in Atlanta has canceled the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance during morning assemblies,
saying the change is a nod to an increasing number of students who weren't taking part in the tradition.
"This decision was made in an effort to begin our day as a fully inclusive and connected community," officials at
Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School said in a letter to parents this week. The letter, written by elementary school
Principal Lara Zelski, said that, instead, students will stand to participate in the school's "Wolf Pack Chant."
According to the letter, a significant number of students at the school had not been participating in the pledge.
"Over the past couple of years it has become increasingly obvious that more and more of our community were
choosing to not stand and/or recite the pledge," the letter said. "There are many emotions around this and we want
everyone in our school family to start their day in a positive manner. After all, that is the whole purpose of our
morning meeting."
Zelski wrote that students will be given the opportunity to say the pledge in their classrooms at another time
during the school day. The letter also said that, in the next few weeks, elementary school teachers and others will
be working with students to create a new school pledge that can be recited each morning.
'This pledge will focus on students' civic responsibility to their school family, community, country and our global
society," Zelski wrote. "I will keep you informed of the progress with this. I am really looking forward to what
our students create."
On Thursday, as news reports about the decision were circulating, Lia Santos, chairwoman of the school's
governing board, released a statement attempting to clarify the change. She wrote that students' opportunity to
recite the Pledge of Allegiance had simply been "moved from the auditorium to the classrooms."
"It has always been the practice of ANCS to provide students with an opportunity to recite the Pledge of
Allegiance each school day. This remains a practice today," she wrote in the post, which was shared on the
school's Facebook page. "Typically this has been done during our all-school morning meeting at the elementary
campus, but at the start of this year it was moved to classrooms.
"It appears there was some miscommunication and inconsistency in the roll out which was addressed with the
entire staff yesterday afternoon."
Santos's post said administrators are working to inform parents and others in the school community about the
change and to hear their "concerns and feedback."
"It is our commitment to continue gathering perspectives and being collaborative with the school family," she
wrote.


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Source F
Abbott, Greg. “God in Our Heritage.” The Wall Street

Journal, 18 Dec. 2003,
www.wsj.com/articles/SB
107171713352841800.
This following is an excerpt from a commentary by the Texas attorney general posted on a national news
source.
Half a century after Congress added the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance, the Supreme Court is
poised to consider whether those words make it impermissible for children to recite the Pledge in our nation's
public schools. Michael Newdow, the man at the center of the case now before the court, contends that requiring
students to say the words "under God" unconstitutionally establishes religion. An overwhelming majority of
others, including the attorneys-general of all 50 states, strongly disagree. The case, which originated in
California, has obvious implications for every state.
In a brief I will submit today to the Supreme Court, I argue on behalf of all 50 states that reciting "under God" in
the Pledge in public schools is well within the confines of the First Amendment to the Constitution. In Texas,
for example, schools must teach students to be "thoughtful, active citizens who understand the importance of
patriotism." One way districts are accomplishing that goal is by having students voluntarily recite the Pledge
each school day. Yet, an adverse ruling from the court would undermine that law and those of 42 other states
that specifically provide for public-school children reciting the Pledge.
It's no secret that many founders of our nation and our states not only believed in God, but also sought divine
guidance in fashioning our system of government. Many of our historical documents, speeches and even
architecture acknowledge God. The Declaration of Independence alone contains four references to God,
including its unambiguous statement that all persons are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights." That sentiment also animated President Lincoln when he beseeched those gathered amid the carnage of
Gettysburg to resolve "that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom."
The Pledge of Allegiance, too, is part of our common heritage. After an early form first appeared in a youth
publication in 1892, it grew in acceptance and changed form until Congress officially adopted it in 1942. In
1954, Congress inserted the phrase "under God" to make the Pledge more reflective of the nation's character.
Congressional committee reports from the time of that amendment echo the Declaration of Independence,
noting that our government recognizes the importance of each person as being "endowed by [God] with certain
inalienable rights which no civil authority may usurp." The addition of "under God" meant that the Pledge was
simply the latest historical and patriotic acknowledgment of our nation's undeniable religious heritage.
I am encouraged by the fact that virtually every reference to the Pledge by the Supreme Court and by at least 12
individual justices over the decades has agreed that the Pledge is consistent with the First Amendment. Justice
Sandra Day O'Connor, for example, expressed her view in Wallace v. Jaffree that the reference to God in the
Pledge "serve[s] as an acknowledgment of religion with 'the legitimate secular purposes of solemnizing public
occasions, [and] expressing confidence in the future.'" Justice William Brennan, one of the court's more liberal
members, admitted in School District of Abington Township v. Schempp that "[t]he reference to divinity in the


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revised pledge of allegiance. . . may merely recognize the historical fact that our Nation was believed to have
been founded 'under God.'"


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2019 AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS

ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION

Suggested reading and writing time--55 minutes.

Source A (U.S. House of Representatives)

Ⓒ ​Melissa, Era, Eleanor, and Aria.

“4 USC 4: Pledge of allegiance to the flag; manner of

Ⓒ ​Melissa, Era, Eleanor, and Aria.

Ⓒ ​Melissa, Era, Eleanor, and Aria.

Robinson, Nathan J. “I Can’t Believe They Still Make

The following picture was published in a culture and politics magazine.

Source: Current Affairs

Ⓒ ​Melissa, Era, Eleanor, and Aria.

Hagg, Matthew. Hauser, Christine. “Florida Student, 11, Arrested

The following is an excerpt from an article published in a nationwide newspaper.

Ⓒ ​Melissa, Era, Eleanor, and Aria.

New York Times

Ⓒ ​Melissa, Era, Eleanor, and Aria.

Jungblut, David. “​Opinion: ‘Freedom’ is Why I Ask my

“No one,” the puzzled-looking students replied.

Ⓒ ​Melissa, Era, Eleanor, and Aria.

Gross, Doug. “​Why An Atlanta School Canceled the Pledge of

The following is an excerpt from a local news source based in Georgia.

Ⓒ ​Melissa, Era, Eleanor, and Aria.

Abbott, Greg. “God in Our Heritage.” The Wall Street

Ⓒ ​Melissa, Era, Eleanor, and Aria.

Ⓒ ​Melissa, Era, Eleanor, and Aria.

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Jungblut, David. “Opinion: ‘Freedom’ is Why I Ask my

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