When was it written?
Answer
In 1814
Explanation
Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics that became The Star-Spangled Banner in 1814. Specifically, he composed them on September 13 and 14, 1814, during and immediately after the British naval bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor in the War of 1812. Key, a 35-year-old Maryland lawyer, was aboard a British truce ship in the Patapsco River having negotiated the release of Dr. William Beanes when the bombardment began on the evening of September 13, 1814. He watched the 25-hour shelling of the fort by British rocket and mortar vessels, and at first light on September 14, 1814 saw that the fort's enormous 30-by-42-foot garrison flag, sewn by Baltimore flag-maker Mary Pickersgill, was still flying.
He began drafting a poem on the back of a letter while still aboard the ship, finished it that evening at the Indian Queen Hotel in Baltimore, and gave it the title Defence of Fort M'Henry. The poem was printed as a Baltimore handbill on September 17, 1814 and published in the Baltimore Patriot newspaper on September 20, 1814 with the note Tune: Anacreon in Heaven, referring to a popular English club song to which the words could be sung. The combined song quickly became known as The Star-Spangled Banner and circulated throughout the country.
The historical context matters: 1814 was the year the British army burned the U.S. Capitol, the White House, and other federal buildings in Washington (August 24, 1814), and the failed assault on Baltimore the following month was a turning point that helped lead to the Treaty of Ghent (signed December 24, 1814) and the end of the War of 1812. The song was adopted for use by the U.S. Navy in 1889, ordered to be played at military ceremonies by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916, and made the official national anthem of the United States by Public Law 71-823, signed by President Herbert Hoover on March 3, 1931 and codified at 36 U.S.C. section 301. The 1814 date therefore links the anthem to the second war the United States fought as an independent nation and to the survival of the country and its symbol against a returning British invader.
Why this matters for your test
Pinning the anthem to 1814 connects it to the War of 1812 and the survival of the young republic against a returning British attack. It establishes that the anthem celebrates a specific battlefield event and not an abstract sentiment, and helps applicants situate the song in the broader history of American independence.
Source: USCIS 128 Civics Questions (2025)
