Francis Scott Key was an American lawyer and amateur poet best known for writing the lyrics that became the U.S. national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Who was Francis Scott Key?

  • Born in 1779 on the Terra Rubra estate in Maryland, into a well-off slaveholding family.
  • Educated at St. John’s College in Annapolis; he graduated in the 1790s and then read law.
  • Built a successful legal career in Georgetown (now part of Washington, D.C.), arguing cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
  • Died in 1843 in Baltimore, Maryland.

The night he wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner”

  • In 1814, during the War of 1812, Key went to the British fleet to help secure the release of his friend Dr. William Beanes, who had been captured.
  • After negotiating his friend’s release, Key was not allowed to leave before the British attack on Fort McHenry near Baltimore, so he watched the bombardment from a ship.
  • Through the night, he saw rockets and shells over the fort; by dawn on September 14, 1814, he realized the American flag was still flying, meaning the fort had not fallen.
  • Moved by that sight, he began drafting a poem that would become “The Defence of Fort McHenry.”
  • The text was quickly set to the tune of the British song “To Anacreon in Heaven,” and it spread under the title “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
  • The U.S. Army and Navy adopted it in the 19th century, and Congress made it the official national anthem in 1931 (a later development tied to his legacy).

His career and politics

  • Key served as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia from 1833 to 1841, appointed under President Andrew Jackson.
  • He was part of Jackson’s informal “kitchen cabinet,” acting as a close legal and political adviser.
  • In 1835, he prosecuted Richard Lawrence for the first attempted assassination of a U.S. president (Jackson).
  • He was involved with the American Bible Society and helped found Episcopal seminaries in Baltimore and Alexandria.

Slavery, colonization, and controversy

This is where modern debate about Francis Scott Key gets intense.

  • Key owned enslaved people for most of his life; he had several enslaved workers at the time of his death.
  • He sometimes freed individuals he enslaved and even employed one as a farm foreman, and he occasionally represented enslaved people in court seeking freedom.
  • At the same time, he also represented slaveholders in cases about runaways and opposed some abolitionist efforts in religious organizations.
  • He was a founding leader of the American Colonization Society, which pushed to relocate free Black Americans to West Africa, contributing to the founding of Liberia in 1847.
  • Many historians argue that elite white advocates of colonization, including Key, did not envision a truly multiracial American society with equal citizenship.

Because of this mix—author of a song praising “the land of the free,” yet a slave owner and colonization advocate—Key is often cited in current discussions about the contradictions in early U.S. ideals of freedom.

Francis Scott Key in today’s conversation

  • Public debate now regularly revisits Key’s legacy, especially when people discuss the national anthem at sports events or in the context of racial justice and protest.
  • Some commentators emphasize his patriotic act and the enduring symbolism of the flag over Fort McHenry.
  • Others highlight the third verse of the anthem and his record on slavery to question how inclusive the song and its author were of Black Americans.
  • This has led to forum discussions, opinion pieces, and educational content that frame him as a complex figure rather than a straightforward national hero.

Mini-timeline of key moments

  1. 1779 – Born at Terra Rubra, Maryland.
  1. 1796 – Graduates from St. John’s College, Annapolis.
  1. 1801–1805 – Admitted to the bar and begins legal practice in Georgetown.
  1. 1814 – Witnesses the bombardment of Fort McHenry and writes the poem that becomes “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
  1. 1816 – Helps found the American Colonization Society.
  1. 1833–1841 – Serves as U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C.
  1. 1843 – Dies in Baltimore.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.