The Star Spangled Banner
Grade 4
Social Studies Online
Grade 4: Governance and Civics
• Blueprint Skill: Sing or recite “The Star
Spangled Banner” and explain its history.
Origins of the Song
• During the War of 1812, on September
13, 1814, Francis Scott Key visited the
British fleet in Chesapeake Bay to secure
the release of Dr. William Beanes, who
had been captured after the burning of
Washington DC. The release was
completed, but Key was held by the
British overnight during the shelling of
Fort McHenry, one of the forts defending
Baltimore .
Origins of the Song continued
• In the morning, Key peered through
clearing smoke to see an enormous
American flag flying proudly after a 25hour British bombardment of Fort
McHenry. He was so delighted to see the
flag still flying over the fort that he began
a poem to commemorate the occasion,
with a note that it should be sung to the
popular British melody "To Anacreon in
History of the Song
• In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson
ordered that it be played at military and
naval occasions.
• In 1931, the Star-Spangled Banner
became our national anthem.
The Star Spangled Banner
Verse 1
• 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?
Verse 2
• On the shore dimly seen, thro' 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 on 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
Verse 3
• 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 wash'd out their foul footstep's
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.
Verse 4
• Oh, thus be it ever when free men shall stand,
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued
land
Praise the Power that has made and preserved us as
a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause 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.
The Star Spangled Banner
(Music and Lyrics)
• http://www.treefort.org/~rgrogan/web/usa1.htm
Resources
• http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/symbols/anthem.html