The American National Anthem
National Anthem The National Anthem is a familiar tune to everybody. It is known as the Star Spangled Banner. Today, the American National anthem is sung before many different events. Some of those events include sporting events and presidential campaigns. The Star Spangled Banner is also notorious for its confusing and almost impossible to sing lyrics. The Star Spangled Banner was written by a second rate lawyer named Francis Scott Key. During the war of 1812 Francis Scott Key was taken hostage on a British ship. He was held captive there during the Battle of Fort McHenry where the British ships were barraging the fort with rockets and artillery throughout the night. But when the sun rose the next morning, Key found the American flag, which only had 15 stars at the time, still standing on the Fort. That even inspired him to write the Star Spangled Banner which became our national anthem in 1931 when congress made it official. The National Anthem is very commonly used today. But not all of these instances are positive. For example before President Barack Obama became the president of the United States, He once refused to put his right hand over his heart before the playing of the Star Spangled Banner. As a defense he stated “There are a lot of people in the world to whom the American flag is a symbol of oppression. And the anthem itself conveys a war-like message. You know, the bombs bursting in air and all.” The bombs bursting in air is a part of the Star Spangled Banner lyrics. This represented the survival of Fort McHenry during the Battle of 1812. This is an interesting part of our history because Barack Obama later became our president. But because of this one event he will be known as our president that refused to stand and honor the playing of the National Anthem. During nation wide sporting events the National Anthem is played before the game. This is seen when people go to a baseball game, they play the national anthem before they begin the game.