Francis Scott Key Accomplishments

Francis Scott Key was a famous poet as well as a lawyer. He was born on August 1, 1779 to John Ross Key, who was an officer of the Continental Army. He was about 33 years old when he wrote the poem called “The Defense of Fort McHenry.” This popular poem was put to the tune of a very famous drinking song of that time called “Anacreon in Heaven,” and eventually was made into our National Anthem. However the song was not declared the National Anthem until years after Francis Scott Key’s death. Even through the hard times, this popular poem served as a source of inspiration and patriotism in the following years. Francis Scott Key was a very popular writer in his day, and this paper is going to explain a little bit more about his most famous

His dad was one of the officers for the Continental Army, who fought in the Revolutionary War. Francis Scott Key went to St. John’s college for his education and became a lawyer. He eventually married Mary Taylor Lloyd. They had eleven children together which included six boys and five girls. In the year, 1803 he moved his family to Georgetown Columbia, to become a partner in law with his Uncle Philip Barton. In only two years, Francis Scott Key took over the practice completely. In 1810 the US and Britain began having conflicts, Britain did not like that the US was sending supplies over to France while Britain was at war with them. The British started to stop the US ships on their way to France, and take all of the British-Americans that were onboard, as well as other people that thought were British. This continued until June 18, 1812, when the US declared war on Britain. This war lasted for two years and included a very famous battle that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem “The Defense of Fort McHenry,” which is now known as “The Star-Spangled

William Beanes on September 7, 1814. Before he sat sail, he stopped to pick up letters of British soldiers taken prisoners in battle that said how well the Americans were treating them. After long negotiation the British finally agreed to release them, however due to plans to attack Fort McHenry they were kept in a warship behind the British fleet until the battle was over. On this ship is where Key watched the battle that lasted until the early morning of September 14, 1814; on that morning the smoke had cleared enough for him to see the flag that was hung over the fort, created by Mary Pickles. This was the source of inspiration that inspired Key to write the poem “The Defense of Fort McHenry”, which was later changed to “The Star-Spangled Banner.” “The Star-Spangled Banner” was put to the tune of “Anacreon in Heaven”, and was adopted by the Union Army during the Civil War. This song has been debated about on whether it should stay as the National Anthem or be changed; however due to the amount of inspiration in the poem during WWl & WWll the National Anthem has not been changed. “The Star-Spangled Banner” was declared the National Anthem in 1931, and it will always be the source of inspiration we