During his legal career, Key represented in court several slaves seeking freedom, but also represented slaveholders seeking the return of their runaway slaves.
#NO LONGER HOME OF THE BRAVE FREE#
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.įor context, we need to examine Francis Scott Key himself, who was a slaveholder from Maryland. No refuge could save the hireling and slaveįrom the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,Īnd the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution. That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusionĪ home and a Country should leave us no more? Here’s the stanza:Īnd where is that band who so vauntingly swore, The third verse, many historians agree, is racist. The anthem contains four verses, though it is only the first verse that is sung. Of all the objections raised about establishing “The Star-Spangled Banner” as the country’s national anthem, none were because of the overtones of racism contained in the song. Patriotism may on very rare occasions involve all of these, but not everyday life.”ĭuring those 20 years, other patriotic songs, such as “Yankee Doodle” and “America the Beautiful” had been suggested as alternatives to “The Star-Spangled Banner.” In the end, lobbying efforts by the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars prevailed. Miller, an administrator at Columbia University’s Teachers College, said in 1930, “’The Star-Spangled Banner’ suggests that patriotism is associated with killing and being killed, with great noise and clamor, with intense hatreds and fury and violence. There also were arguments that Key’s words were directed at a military enemy, Great Britain, that had become a close American ally.”Īccording to Leepson’s book, Clyde R. Another objection had to do with the difficulty of singing the tune, which has a very wide range of notes. Others objected to ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ because the music was not written by an American. First, some believed that it was inappropriate for the nation to adopt as its National Anthem a song derived from an English drinking tune-especially after January 19, 1920, when Prohibition went into effect.
In his book, Flag: An American Biography, historian Marc Leepson writes: “The legislation did not succeed for several reasons. Over the next 20 years, Congress considered more than 40 bills concerning the anthem, all of which went nowhere.
It wasn’t until around 1910 that some members of Congress started introducing resolutions or legislation to make the song the official National Anthem of the United States. Army and Navy used “The Star-Spangled Banner” as their official anthem, but it was not popular on a national scale. Road to Adoptionīeginning in 1890, the U.S. Inspired by what he saw, Key wrote the poem “Defence of Fort McHenry,” which became known as “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The poem would be set to a popular melody at the time, “To Anacreon in Heaven,” a British drinking song. At dawn the next day, Key saw the American flag still being flown over Fort McHenry, which meant that the British had not captured it and the Battle of Baltimore had been won by the United States. After negotiations were concluded he was not allowed to leave because the British feared he would compromise their position.įorced to spend the night aboard an enemy ship, Key watched and heard the bombing of Fort McHenry. On September 13, 1814, Key was aboard the British ship HMS Tonnant negotiating a prisoner release. Francis Scott Key, an American lawyer and amateur poet, wrote the poem that would become the anthem after the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812. Origin of the Anthemīy now, the story of the song’s origins is widely known. Not everyone was a fan of the song at the time and today many believe it contains racist overtones. On March 3, 1931, President Herbert Hoover signed the law that would officially designate “The Star-Spangled Banner” as America’s National Anthem. Every American is familiar with “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Some may even be able to sing it or at least get through “O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light….”
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