I would strongly encourage you to stand when you are at a ball game or any other event where the “Star-Spangled Banner” is played or sung. It was at a Baltimore music store where the title was changed to “The Star-Spangled Banner.”.Despite there being four verses, usually, only the first verse is sung at public events.Some people have issues with the national anthem being written by a slave owner.
Elsie Riley, a soprano, sang the song to prove them wrong, and on March 4, 1931, President Herbert Hoover officially made “The Star-Spangled Banner” the national anthem of the United States of America. However, the US House Committee of the Judiciary resisted this movement as they felt it was too hard for most people to sing. Congressman John Charles Linthicum of Maryland, then got five million signatures on a petition to have “The Star-Spangled Banner” became the National Anthem. In 1918, the song transitioned from military to All-American when it was played at a baseball game between the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox. When Americans and Bits allied during World War I, controversy arose over the song concerning the “ anti-British lyrics” such as the third stanza which says, “Their blood was wash’d out their foul footsteps pollution.” However, despite the tension, President Woodrow Wilson declared it should be played at military functions. The north’s revised version made it into a number of school books that included the new lyric, “the millions unchained who our birthright have gained.” The South argued that the song had southern roots, while the North eagerly added a verse to the lyrics in an attempt to make the song their own. It was so well received that when the Civil War broke out in 1861, both the Yankees and Confederates wanted to claim the song as their own battle tune. While the song did not instantly become the national anthem, it was well-liked and used at a number of patriotic gatherings.
By the end of that year, it was known across America and renamed “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Nicholson also included a note that the song should be sung to an English drinking song called “To Anacreon in Heaven.” After being printed, the song took off and spread like wildfire across the nation. Key did not initially name his poem “The Star-Spangled Banner” but rather “Defense of Fort M’Henry.” Upon its completion, Key’s brother-in-law, Joseph Nicholson, helped print the song for the public to read.
The British attacked at dawn that day: “by the dawn’s early light.” While on a ship in the Baltimore harbor, Key witnessed “the bombs bursting in air.” However, that next morning, he saw the American flag, not the Union Jack waving “o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” Key was initially against the war, calling it a “lump of wickedness.” However, he was inspired by the “Battle of Baltimore” to write the words to the “Star-Spangled Banner.” This battle was fought on both land and sea on September 13, 1814.
During the war, Francis Scott Key worked as a lawyer who sometimes wrote poetry. On June 18, 1812, President James Madison declared war on Great Britain, officially beginning the War of 1812. However, it was actually composed by Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814. Many people naturally assume the anthem was written in 1776, the year that the United States of America became a nation. In honor of the Fourth of July, I’d love to tell you a little bit about the history of the American national anthem. It is often heard at the start of ball games and is also played at firework shows on Independence Day. The “Star-Spangled Banner” is the national anthem of the United States.