What is the national anthem?
Answer
The Star-Spangled Banner
Explanation
The national anthem of the United States is The Star-Spangled Banner. The lyrics were written by Francis Scott Key, a 35-year-old Maryland lawyer, on the morning of September 14, 1814 after he watched the British naval bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor during the War of 1812. The melody is an English drinking song called To Anacreon in Heaven, composed about 1773 by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a London gentlemen's musical club.
The Star-Spangled Banner has four stanzas, but only the first is commonly sung; it ends with the famous question, O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? Key originally titled the poem Defence of Fort M'Henry. It was first printed as a handbill in Baltimore on September 17, 1814, set to the Anacreontic tune, and quickly became popular.
The song was used by the U.S. Navy as early as 1889 and made the official anthem of the Army and Navy by President Woodrow Wilson by executive order in 1916. Congress designated it the official national anthem of the United States in Public Law 71-823, signed by President Herbert Hoover on March 3, 1931 and codified at 36 U.S.C. section 301. The current official version is the harmonization prepared by an Army-Navy committee in 1917 (the Service Version).
Federal law specifies how the anthem should be conducted (everyone should stand, face the flag, and place the right hand over the heart; military members in uniform render the military salute), and these provisions, together with the conduct guidance for the Pledge, are codified in title 36 of the U.S. Code. The original 30-by-42-foot garrison flag that flew over Fort McHenry, sewn by Mary Pickersgill and her daughter and crew, is now displayed in a darkened, climate-controlled gallery at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., where about 1.5 million people see it each year.
The Star-Spangled Banner is performed at the start of nearly every public sporting event, every presidential inauguration, every naturalization ceremony, and every state and military funeral, and is one of the most recognizable melodies in American public life.
Why this matters for your test
Identifying The Star-Spangled Banner as the national anthem is a basic civics requirement and a near-daily part of American public life. The anthem ties the country's identity to the resilience of the flag during a specific battle, and recognizing it allows applicants to participate in ceremonies where it is performed.
Source: USCIS 128 Civics Questions (2025)
