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The Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem of the United States
of America. The lyrics come from a poem written in 1814 by Francis Scott
Key, a then 35-year-old amateur poet who wrote "Defence of Fort McHenry"
after seeing the bombardment of Fort McHenry at Baltimore, Maryland, by
Royal Navy ships in Chesapeake Bay during the War of 1812.
The poem was set to the tune of a popular British drinking song, written by
John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a London social club. "The
Anacreontic Song" (or "To Anacreon in Heaven"), set to various lyrics, was
already popular in the United States. Set to Key's poem and renamed "The
Star-Spangled Banner", it would soon become a well-known American patriotic
song. With a range of one and a half octaves, it is known for being
difficult to sing. Although the song has four stanzas, only the first is
commonly sung today, with the fourth ("O thus be it ever when free men shall
stand ...") added on more formal occasions.
"The Star-Spangled Banner" was recognized for official use by the Navy in
1889 and the President in 1916, and was made the national anthem by a
congressional resolution on March 3, 1931 (46 Stat. 1508, codified at
36 U.S.C. § 301),
which was signed by President Herbert Hoover.
Before 1931, other songs
served as the hymns of American officialdom. Most prominent among them was
"Hail, Columbia," which served as the de facto national anthem from
Washington's time and through the 18th and 19th centuries. Following the War
of 1812 and subsequent American wars, other songs would emerge to compete
for popularity at public events, among them "The Star-Spangled Banner." |
