history of the national anthem essays

history of the national anthem essays Today I am going to be talking to you about the history of the Star Spangled Banner, the national anthem of the United States. Im going to start off by telling you about how I first became interested in where the Star Spangled Banner originated. Then I am going to talk a little about the War of 1812 and how it led to a young Baltimore attorney to write a poem called The defense of Fort McHenry. And finally, Im going to talk about how that poem became the national anthem. Im going to start off now by talking about how I discovered the story behind the Star Spangled Banner. Raise your hand if you can tell me who wrote the Star Spangled Banner. Now, keep your hand up if you know the story behind how he came to write it. Most people know that Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner, but they probably couldnt tell you how he came to write it. A couple of months ago, I couldnt either. What changed this was a special I saw on the History Channel about the War of 1812. Prior to watching this special, I knew absolutely nothing about the War of 1812; I didnt even know what countries were involved in it. After watching the show, I became very interested in it and want to learn more about it. Over the next few months I did some reading and learned even more about the War of 1812. One of the things I found most interesting and ended up reading a lot more about was the story of the Star Spangled Banner and how it came to be. But before I get to that, I want to talk a little about the main events of the War of 1812 that led up to this. The impressment of Americans by the British was a major factor in the June 18th, 1812 decision of the United States to declare war on Britain. According to The War of 1812 by Reginald Horsman, just before the war started roughly 2,500 Americans had been removed from American ships by the British and were currently being forced to serve on t ...