O
say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
what so proudly we hailed at the
twilight's last gleaming,
whose broad stripes and bright stars,
through the perilous fight,
o're the ramparts we watched, were so
gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in
air,
gave proof through the night that our
flag was still there.
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
o'er the land of the free and the home
of the brave?
On
the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
where the foe's haughty host in dread
silence reposes.
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering
steep,
as it fitfully blows, half conceals,
half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first
beam,
in full glory reflected now shines in
the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it
wave
o'er the land of the free and the home
of the brave!
And
where is that band who so vauntingly swore
that the havoc of war and the battle's
confusion,
a home and a country
should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps'
pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
from the terror of flight, or the gloom
of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
o'er the land of the free and the home
of the brave!
O!
thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
between their loved home and the war's
desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued
land
praise the Power that hath made and
preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
and this be our motto: "In
God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
o'er the land of the free and the home
of the brave!
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Francis Scott Key, the author of "The
Star-Spangled Banner," was born 01 August 1779 in
Carrol County, Maryland, and died 11 January 1843 in
Baltimore, Maryland. He wrote the words after
observing
the British attack on Fort McHenry, 13-14 September
1814, during the War of 1812.
The words were set to a popular drinking song of
the period called "To Anacreon." Amazingly,
it wasn't until 1931 that the US Congress passed
legislation making the "Star-Spangled
Banner" the national anthem of the United States
of America.
Key is known to have made at least 5 copies of
the song. Four of those were between 1840 and 1842.
The oldest copy of these four can be seen at the Library
of Congress American Treasures Exhibit website.
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