Francis Scott Key, the Reluctant Patriot The Washington lawyer was an unlikely candidate to write the national anthem; he was against America’s entry into the War of 1812 from the outset Francis Scott Key Elementary School principal Pauline Cheung, who is one of the recipients of the 2020 – 2021 Lindback Distinguished Principal Award, spoke to Eyewitness News. [26] After years as an adviser to President Jackson, Key was nominated by the President to District Attorney for the District of Columbia in 1833. American lawyer and amateur poet. [17], At dawn, Key was able to see an American flag waving, and he later wrote a poem about his experience entitled "Defence of Fort M'Henry" which was published in William Pechin's[18] American and Commercial Daily Advertiser on September 21, 1814. He made the first of his many arguments before the United States Supreme Court in 1807. Francis Scott Key was born to Ann Phoebe Penn Dogworthy and Captain James Ross Key at the family plantation Terra Rubra on August 1, 1779 in Frederick, Maryland. United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, abolition of slavery in the United States, "Remembering Francis Scott Key: The Man Behind America's National Anthem 'The Star-Spangled Banner, "The Story Behind the Star Spangled Banner", "Where's the Debate on Francis Scott Key's Slave-Holding Legacy? In the words of philanthropist Gerrit Smith, it was "quite as much an Anti-Abolition, as Colonization Society". [35], Key was a founding member and active leader of the American Colonization Society (ACS), whose primary goal was to send free blacks to Africa. [42] Throughout his life he sprinkled biblical references in his correspondence. Francis Scott Key was an attorney and poet who wrote the lyrics to the U.S. national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner.". In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19), additional safety and sanitation measures are in effect at this property. [37] "This Colonization Society had, by an invisible process, half conscious, half unconscious, been transformed into a serviceable organ and member of the Slave Power. The leaders of the American Colonization Society, including Key, were predominantly slaveowners. Profil: American lawyer and amateur poet. [27] He served from 1833 to 1841 while also handling his own private legal cases. Francis Scott Key. He had not "published" anything; he had given one copy to one man who had asked for it. See availability The fine print Please note, guests must provide complete address including zip codes at the time of booking. Francis Scott Key Abogado, autor del el himno de los Estados Unidos Nació el 1 de agosto de 1779 en Maryland. [20], The third stanza of the Star-Spangled Banner makes disparaging mention of blacks and demonstrates Key's opinion of their seeking freedom at the time by escaping to the British, who promised them freedom from American enslavement. [12] He graduated from St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland, in 1796 and read law under his uncle Philip Barton Key who was loyal to the British Crown during the War of Independence. [27][36], In the early 1830s American thinking on slavery changed quite abruptly. Lundy left town rather than face trial; Greer was acquitted.[38]. In 1808, he assisted President Thomas Jefferson's attorney general in United States v. He assisted his uncle Philip Barton Key in the sensational conspiracy trial of Aaron Burr and in the expulsion of Senator John Smith of Ohio. The ensuing hostilities would come to be known as the War of 1812. Fitzgerald’s namesake (and second cousin three times removed on his father's side) was Francis Scott Key … He made his home there from 1804 to around 1833 with his wife Mary and their six sons and five daughters. [13] Two of his religious poems used as Christian hymns include "Before the Lord We Bow" and "Lord, with Glowing Heart I'd Praise Thee".[47]. Francis Scott Key. Cuando cuenta diez años, sus padres lo enviaron a la escuela de la gramática en Annapolis. She was a devout Christian who was both generous and hospitable. Francis Scott Key 1780-1843. He was nominated for District Attorney for the District of Columbia by President Andrew Jackson, where he served from 1833 to 1841. "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); Subscribe to the Biography newsletter to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives. Francis's mother was Ann Phoebe Penn Dagworthy Charlton, a well-educated woman from a wealthy family. It accused Crandall of "seditious libel" after two marshals (who operated as slave catchers in their off hours) found Crandall had a trunk full of anti-slavery publications in his Georgetown residence/office, five days after the Snow riot, caused by rumors that a mentally ill slave had attempted to kill an elderly white woman. He made his name in 1807 defending Justus Eric Bollman and Samuel Swartwout who had been charged with treason in connection to an alleged conspiracy designed by Aaron Burr. [7][31] Key was one of the executors of John Randolph of Roanoke's will, which freed his 400 slaves, and Key fought to enforce the will for the next decade and to provide the freed slaves with land to support themselves. Key was an ACS leader and fundraiser for the organization, but he himself did not send the men and women he freed to Africa upon their emancipation. In 1846 one daughter, Alice, married U.S. Decades later, in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson declared "The Star-Spangled Banner" should be played at official events. [10][11], Key grew up on the family plantation Terra Rubra in Frederick County, Maryland (now Carroll County). Scott Hamilton is a U.S. Olympic gold medalist also known for his sports commentary and for raising cancer awareness. After continual bombing, to Key's surprise, the British weren't able to destroy the fort, and Key noted upon the dawning of the next morning a large U.S. flag being flown. He, along with Colonel John Skinner, was able to secure Beanes' freedom, though they were not allowed to return to land until the British completed their bombardment of Fort McHenry. He remained a staunch proponent of African colonization and a strong critic of the abolition movement until his death.[41]. [33], A quote increasingly credited to Key stating that free blacks are "a distinct and inferior race of people, which all experience proves to be the greatest evil that afflicts a community" is erroneous. This was the official policy of the American Colonization Society. Life Francis Scott Key was born to Ann Phoebe Penn Dagworthy (Charlton) and Captain John Ross Key at the family plantation Terra Rubra in what was Frederick County and is now Carroll County, Maryland. Born August 1, 1779 Frederick County (now Carroll County), Maryland. He took it to music publisher Thomas Carr, who adapted it to the rhythms of composer John Stafford Smith's "To Anacreon in Heaven",[17] a popular tune that Key had already used as a setting for his 1805 song "When the Warrior Returns", celebrating American heroes of the First Barbary War. In 1814, the British captured Washington and set the Capitol on fire. The song was finally adopted as the American national anthem more than a century after its first publication, first by an Executive Order from President Woodrow Wilson in 1916, and then by a Congressional resolution in 1931 signed by President Herbert Hoover. Tom Clancy was a New York Times best-selling American author known for writing thrillers such as 'The Hunt For Red October,' 'The Sum of All Fears' and 'Patriot Games.'. He and his family settled in Georgetown in 1805 or 1806, near the new national capital. ", "The unexpected connection between slavery, NFL protests and the national anthem", "Francis Scott Key's life was a lot more complicated than just writing The Star-Spangled Banner", "A Sketch of Francis Scott Key, with a Glimpse of His Ancestors", https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89066361866&view=1up&seq=23&q1=key, https://www.thebeaconnewspapers.com/becoming-mr-and-mrs-francis-scott-key/, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francis-Scott-Key, "The Star-Spangled Banner's' racist lyrics reflect its slave owner author, Francis Scott Key", "Behind the Lyrics of the Star Spangled Banner", "Francis Scott Key, the Reluctant Patriot", "What role did the famous author of "The Star-Spangled Banner" play in the debate over American slavery? Celebrated American author Herman Melville wrote 'Moby-Dick' and several other sea-adventure novels before turning to poetry later in his literary career. He was inspired upon seeing the American flag still flying over the fort at dawn and wrote the poem "Defence of Fort M'Henry"; it was published within a week with the suggested tune of the popular song "To Anacreon in Heaven". Died January 11, 1843 Baltimore, Maryland. Viewed as the "King of Ragtime," Scott Joplin was the foremost composer of the genre in the early 20th century, known for works like "The Maple Leaf Rag" and "The Entertainer.". [46], Though Key had written poetry from time to time, often with heavily religious themes, these works were not collected and published until 14 years after his death. Scott Peterson is best known as the man who murdered his eight-month pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn child in 2002. Crandall died shortly after his acquittal of pneumonia contracted in the Washington jail. At age 10 he entered St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland, from which he graduated in 1796. [8][9] He freed some of his slaves in the 1830s, paying one ex-slave as his farm foreman. Francis Scott Key (August 1, 1779 – January 11, 1843) was an American lawyer, author, and amateur poet from Frederick, Maryland, who is best known for writing the lyrics for the American national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner". After falling ill with pleurisy, Key died on January 11, 1843, in Baltimore, Maryland, at the age of 63 and was laid to rest in nearby Mount Olivet Cemetery near the city of Frederick. Smith, Hal H. "Historic Washington Homes". [19] It was somewhat difficult to sing, yet it became increasingly popular, competing with "Hail, Columbia" (1796) as the de facto national anthem by the time of the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War. Francis Scott Key Family Resort accepts these cards and reserves the right to temporarily hold an amount prior to arrival. He publicly criticized slavery and gave free legal representation to some slaves seeking freedom, but he also represented owners of runaway slaves. The fort withstood the day-long assault, inspiring Key to write a poem that would become the future U.S. national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner." In his youth, he almost became an Episcopal priest rather than a lawyer. [14][15][16], During the War of 1812, Key and British Prisoner Exchange Agent Colonel John Stuart Skinner dined aboard HMS Tonnant as the guests of Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane, Rear Admiral George Cockburn, and Major General Robert Ross. Free blacks made it clear that few of them wanted to move, and if they did, it would be to Canada, Mexico, or Central America, not Africa. [44] He successfully opposed an abolitionist resolution presented to that group around 1838. Francis Scott Key was born in Frederick County, Maryland, at Terra Rubra, his family's estate, named for the red earth on which it stood. [43] He was active in All Saints Parish in Frederick, Maryland, near his family's home. Fancis Scott Key was born on August 1, 1779. A jury sentenced him to death by lethal injection. Baltimore Sunday Sun Magazine, September 13, 1964, Mark Clague, Star-Spangled Mythbusting (June 5, 2014) at www.chorusamerica.org/singers/star-spangled-mythbusting. [49] Sickles was acquitted in the first use of the temporary insanity defense. The work, which relied heavily on visualizations of what he witnessed, would come to be known as the "Defence of Fort M'Henry" and was printed in handbills and newspapers, including the Baltimore Patriot. Evidence was introduced that the anti-slavery publications were packing materials used by his landlady in shipping his possessions to him. [28] In 1835, he prosecuted Richard Lawrence for his attempt to assassinate President Jackson at the top steps of the Capitol, the first attempt to kill an American president. By 1805, he'd set up his legal practice in Georgetown, then an independent municipality within Washington, D.C. area. The Key Monument Association erected a memorial in 1898 and the remains of both Francis Scott Key and his wife, Mary Tayloe Lloyd, were placed in a crypt in the base of the monument. Key, in his final address to the jury said: Are you willing, gentlemen, to abandon your country, to permit it to be taken from you, and occupied by the abolitionist, according to whose taste it is to associate and amalgamate with the negro? The Society was intended to preserve slavery, rather than eliminate it. Information on Key's relationship to race and his D.C. legal career can be found in the Jefferson Morley book Snow-Storm in August: Washington City, Francis Scott Key, and the Forgotten Race Riot of 1835. https://www.biography.com/writer/francis-scott-key. Due to his work as an attorney, Key was asked to help in the negotiation of Beanes' release and in the process traveled to Baltimore, where British naval forces were located along Chesapeake Bay. ", The alternative to the colonization of Africa, project of the American Colonization Society, was the total and immediate abolition of slavery in the United States. Key immediately wrote down the words for a poem that he would continue composing at an inn the next day. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! [7][better source needed] He was also a leader of the American Colonization Society which sent freed slaves to Africa. Francis Scott Key was a respected young lawyer living in Georgetown just west of where the modern day Key Bridge crosses the Potomac River (the house was torn down after years of neglect in 1947). , `` the Star-Spangled Banner '' should be played at official events August! 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