Happy Birthday, United States National Anthem!

Posted on by bbarthelette1984

Originally, Francis Scott Key’s four-stanza poem was in honor of Fort McHenry’s flag which survived through the Battle of Baltimore on September 14, 1814 during the last months of the War of 1812. Initially, it seemed the British would have the upper hand after the recent attack on Washington DC and the burning of the White House and Capitol Building. Key’s heartfelt ode to the flag was set to the popular British pub son, “To Anacreon in Heaven” and, subsequently entitled “The Star Spangled Banner. It soon became the most well-loved patriotic son in the country and named The National Anthem in 1931.

Recently, history illiterate protestors have tried to demean our flag and reduce it to a thing of derision. Perhaps, if they did a little more reading and a little less victim-playing, they would understand the reason for the anthem and find more productive and civilized ways to vent their problems with living in a free country where they can dishonor the flag without a real reason and without arrest. That is not the case in many other countries who don’t have a flag representing freedom and the blood shed to grant this freedom to everyone.