original draft of the star spangled banner song lyrics

It is now on display at the Maryland Historical Society.įollowing the Burning of Washington and the Raid on Alexandria, Dr William Beanes, the elderly and popular town physician of Upper Marlboro and a friend of Key, had been captured in his home on August 28, 1814. § 301(a).įrancis Scott Key's original manuscript copy of his 'Defence of Fort M'Henry' poem. The resolution is now codified at 36 U.S.C. 1508) making the song the official national anthem of the United States, which President Herbert Hoover signed into law. Congress passed a joint resolution (46 Stat. 'The Star-Spangled Banner' was first recognized for official use by the U.S. Although the poem has four stanzas, only the first is commonly sung today. With a range of 19 semitones, it is known for being very difficult to sing. This setting, renamed 'The Star-Spangled Banner', soon became a well-known U.S. ' To Anacreon in Heaven' (or 'The Anacreontic Song'), with various lyrics, was already popular in the United States.

The poem was set to the tune of a popular British song written by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a men's social club in London.

flag, with 15 stars and 15 stripes, known as the Star-Spangled Banner, flying triumphantly above the fort during the U.S. The lyrics come from the ' Defence of Fort M'Henry', a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by British ships of the Royal Navy in Outer Baltimore Harbor in the Patapsco River during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. ' The Star-Spangled Banner' is the national anthem of the United States.

Original draft of the star spangled banner song lyrics