The melody of the “Star Spangled Banner” derives from an older British song, “Anacreon in Heaven.” The London composer John Stafford Smith created it around 1775 for a gentlemen’s musical club. The tune became widely known in the United States, and Francis Scott Key probably had it in mind when he wrote his poem.
Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Sheet music, “The Star Spangled Banner National Song,” ca. 1861
The National Anthem
“The Star-Spangled Banner,” a song based on the poem "The Defense of Fort McHenry" by Francis Scott Key, was inspired by seeing the American Flag still flying over the Baltimore fort after a night of bombardment by the British during the War of 1812. It became the United States’ national anthem through the efforts of Representative John Linthicum of Maryland. Linthicum introduced his bill in the House of Representatives in 1929. Bolstered by petitions, letters, and telegrams from around the country, he pressed for its passage, saying that an anthem would be an expression of patriotism. In 1931 Congress officially designated the song as the national anthem.
O say does that star spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
“Star-Spangled Banner,” National Anthem of the United States
The melody of the “Star Spangled Banner” derives from an older British song, “Anacreon in Heaven.” The London composer John Stafford Smith created it around 1775 for a gentlemen’s musical club. The tune became widely known in the United States, and Francis Scott Key probably had it in mind when he wrote his poem.
Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
