Civic Register
| 1.9.18

Fact Tuesday: The Star-Spangled Banner

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Twitter was atwitter last night over President Donald Trump’s anthem etiquette.

A headline in People summarized the kerfuffle: "President Trump Is Mocked for Apparently Forgetting the Words to the National Anthem."

But did the president even need to sing every word? Here are some notes – musical and otherwise – about "Defence of Fort M’Henry" set to a British drinking song:

  • On September 14, 1814, amateur poet – and professional lawyer - Francis Scott Key was inspired to pen the future national anthem when, as the History Channel explains, he "peered through a spyglass and spotted an American flag still waving over Baltimore’s Fort McHenry after a fierce night of British bombardment."

  • The future American national anthem began its life as a popular British drinking song. Key set his poem to the tune of "To Anacreon in Heaven"—an ode to the Anacreontic Society, a men's social club in London.

  • Ironically, Key was adamantly opposed to the War of 1812. At the outset, he called it "abominable" and “a lump of wickedness.”

  • Key didn’t name his piece. Baltimore newspapers ran the verses under the title "Defence of Fort M’Henry." A few months later, however, a Baltimore music store published the sheet music with the title “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

  • The song remained popular throughout the Civil War (it was an anthem for Union troops). In 1889, it was recognized for official use by the Navy, and in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed an executive order designating the song as "the national anthem of the United States" for all military ceremonies.

  • There had been 40 failed attempts to make "The Star-Spangled Banner" the national anthem. But on March 3, 1931, Congress passed a resolution (46 Stat. 1508, codified at 36 U.S.C. § 301) formally designating Key’s composition as the national anthem. President Herbert Hoover signed it into law.

  • The Flag Code establishes the rules for conduct "During a rendition of the national anthem":

  • We only sing ¼ of "The Star-Spangled Banner"—Key’s original has four verses. And during the Civil War, poet Oliver Wendell Holmes penned a fifth verse to support the Union, which included the lines: "Down, down, with the traitor that dares to defile the flag of her stars and the page of her story!"

—Josh Herman

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