It was not until 1942 that Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance. One year later, in June 1943, the Supreme Court ruled that school children could not be forced to recite it.
The descendants of the Canaanites/Phoenicians are the modern day inhabitants of Lebanon (specifically the Christians). The Arabs and the Phoenicians aren't at all the same people. They just spoke two languages related to each other.
Some contemporary Palestinian families claim to be descendents of one ancient Palestinian group or another. When Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967, Hamdi Canaan, whose family claims to be descendant from the ancient Canaanites, was the Palestinian mayor of Nablus, one the ancient cities in Palestine.