The Star-Spangled Banner

The Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem or song of the United States. The words were written by Francis Scott Key in 1814. He watched a night-time battle between England and America. He was very excited when the American flag was still flying in the morning. He wrote these words about the flag:

Oh, 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, thro' the perilous fight;
O'er 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.
Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

For more information, check out the Star Spangled Banner Project.

A service of the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office.

Last updated: January 30, 2007
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