Francis Scott Key, the author of America’s national anthem, was born in 1779 in Maryland. His father had served as an officer in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Francis became a lawyer and had appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court many times. He also served three terms as the U.S. District Attorney for Washington, D.C.
After the Revolution, Americans were looking forward to living in peace, but the new country was drawn into a war between England and France. England was capturing American ships at sea and forcing American sailors to fight in Great Britain’s favor. The United States declared war on Great Britain, which became known as the War of 1812.
In August 1814, the British invaded Washington, D.C. They set fire to many government buildings, including the Capitol and the White House. The British troops then marched to Baltimore and, in September, began bombarding Fort McHenry, which guarded the entrance to Baltimore Harbor.
During this time, Attorney Key was sent by President Madison to negotiate the release of a friend, Dr. William Beanes, who had been taken prisoner by the British. The negotiations took place aboard a British ship in the harbor. After the successful release of the prisoner, Key was informed by the British Admiral that the negotiations were useless since they were about to launch an attack on Fort McHenry. Because Key had seen the British preparing for the attack, he wasn’t allowed to return to land.
Through the long night of September 13, 1814, Key prayerfully watched “the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air” aboard a ship located about eight miles away. The British were unable to destroy the fort and gave up. The next morning, “at the dawn’s early light,” Key was relieved to see “the flag was still there” flying over Fort McHenry. He quickly began writing lines describing what he had witnessed, and after being released, he finished his poem and called it “Defence of Fort M’Henry.” It was set to music later that year and titled “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson announced that the anthem should be played at all official events; however, it wasn’t until 1931 that the Star-Spangled Banner was designated as America’s national anthem by a Congressional Act. The song soon became popular for singing at sporting events and other occasions. Almost every American knows the first verse of the song. There are actually four verses, but most printed versions use only the first and fourth verses.
It’s also not well known that Francis Scott Key was a committed Christian who, at one time, contemplated giving up his law profession to become a minister. He wrote several hymns in addition to the “Star-Spangled Banner.” He was one of the founders of the American Sunday School Union and taught a class. While serving on their board, he helped organize the 1830 Mississippi Valley Campaign, with plans to establish a Sunday school in every town within a 1.3 million square mile area. The campaign actually took fifty years to accomplish, with more than 61,000 Sunday schools established that reached more than 2.5 million pupils.
John Randolph was a U.S. congressman who opposed Christianity and openly expressed his Muslim faith. Key befriended him and led him to the Lord. Randolph became a strong witness for his newfound faith. As recorded in Hugh A. Garland’s Life of John Randolph (1850), Key wrote in a letter to Randolph:
May I always hear that you are following the guidance of that blessed Spirit that will ‘lead you into all truth,’ leaning on that Almighty arm that has been extended to deliver you, trusting only in the only Savior, and ‘going on’ in your way to Him ‘rejoicing.’
Key believed that America’s victory over the superior British forces was a result of Divine intervention. His religious convictions are evident in the fourth verse of "The Star-Spangled Banner," where he acknowledges that America has been “blest with victory and peace.” He then requests, “The Heav’n rescued land, Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!” His use of the phrase “In God is Our Trust” was the inspiration for the national motto “In God We Trust.” Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD. (Psalm 33:12)
1. O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
2. On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,
’Tis the star-spangled banner— O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
3. And where is that band which so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
4. O thus be it ever when freeman shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto— “In God is our trust,”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
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