9 Things You May Not Know About "The Star-Spangled Banner"
This article, posted 4 days ago on History.com, reveals 9 things that most people do not know about the author of "The Star-Spangled Banner", Francis Scott Key, and how our national anthem came to be. Many of these facts were recently discovered and shed a new light on our national anthem.
4. The song was not originally entitled “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
5. It did not become the national anthem until more than a century after it was written.
6. The national anthem has four verses.
7. Key opposed American entry into the War of 1812.
8. Key was a consummate Washington insider.
9. Key was a one-hit wonder who might have been tone deaf.
So basically, we have been singing 1 verse of a lie for 100 years (#3, #5, #6), written by a guy who was tone-deaf(#9).
yay for 'merica!!!!!
Hey Rachel! Thanks for posting this. I really like that you built off of Mr. Stewart's post from last week.
ReplyDeleteI think that it was interesting that this didn't become our national anthem until 1931. There were many other songs that were around at the time that did have national pride as well. I remember reading somewhere that "America the Beautiful" was considered as it was written around 1893. Why would we choose a song more based on drinking than one based on a trip to Pike's Peak? I think it's funny that we had more choices but the Star-Spangled Banner is what we eventually did use.
Thanks again for posting! I find it very insightful to see the difference of what government posts (ie: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ist/?next=/history/the-story-behind-the-star-spangled-banner-149220970/) about what happened versus what the news sites will post, like what Mr. Stewart had on the blog.
Also something interesting noted in the article that Rachel found, in 1861 Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote a fifth verse about the traitors of the South. Holmes wrote,
ReplyDelete"If a foe from within strikes a blow at her glory,
Down, down with the traitor that tries to defile
The flag of the stars and the page of her story!
By the millions unchained,
Who their birthright have gained
we will keep her bright blazon forever unstained"
Holmes not only writes about the traitorous, seceding states, but the importance of eradicating slavery ("by the millions unchained"). He shows the idea at the time (that remains until today) that slavery stained our country, and in order to represent liberty and equality of all men, slaves would have to be freed.
I thought this was really interesting, especially because soon we will be learning more about the Civil War. Perhaps a good segue.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star-Spangled_Banner#Additional_Civil_War_period_lyrics
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