NATIONALITY
AUGUST 3, 2021
The Story Behind The Star Spangled Banner
The story behind The Star Spangled Banner started on September 14, 1814, when Francis Scott Key, a 35 year-old American lawyer and amateur poet, wrote a poem which is later set to music and becomes America’s national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner” in 1931.
Originally titled “The Defence of Fort M’Henry”, the poem was written after Key witnessed the Maryland fort being bombarded by the British ships of the Royal Navy during the War of 1812.
Key was inspired by the large US flag, known as the Star-Spangled Banner – with 15 stars and stripes, that still stood strong above the fort during the US victory after nearly 24 hours of British bombing.
He showed the verses to Joseph H Nicholson, commander of a militia at Fort McHenry, who thought that the words would fit perfectly to the tune of a popular English ditty written in 1775 by the composer John Stafford Smith.
The tune Nicholson referred to, was a popular British song for the Anacreontic Society, a men’s social club in London, titled “To Anacreon in Heaven” or “The Anacreontic Song”. It was already popular in the United States with various lyrics.
The Baltimore Patriot newspaper soon reprinted the poem, and within weeks, The Star-Spangled Banner, as it was quickly known, appeared in print across the country.
Interestingly, Key made no effort to promote this composition. In fact, he did not even sign it. He only showed his lyrics to a few friends, who then circulated the work. For several decades, Key’s name rarely appeared alongside these lyrics. But the story behind The Star Spangled Banner already immortalized his name forever.
In 1889, “The Star-Spangled Banner” was recognized for official use by the United States Navy. In the early 20th Century, the song became so popular that in 1916 there were dozens of different versions and US President Woodrow Wilson asked the US Bureau of Education to produce an official edition.
It was not, however, until 3 March, 1931, that “The Star-Spangled Banner” was officially made the United States’ national anthem by a congressional act signed by President Herbert Hoover.
Before 1931, other songs served as the hymns of US officialdom. “Hail, Columbia” served this purpose at official functions for most of the 19th century. “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee”, whose melody is identical to the United Kingdom’s national anthem, “God Save the Queen”, also served as a de facto national anthem.
After the War of 1812 and other US wars, other songs emerged to compete for popularity at public events, among them “America the Beautiful”, which was also considered as a strong candidate to become the national anthem of the United States before 1931.
Beginning in World War II, “The Star Spangled Banner” as the National Anthem, as it had become officially designated by then, began to be played and performed regularly at other events such as sport games or public events.
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