在1814年9月14日，法蘭西斯史考特凱（Francis Scott Key）在聽聞英國船隻砲轟巴爾的摩麥克亨瑞港時、心情激動地寫出一首詩句" O, say can you see...?"，他簡直不敢相信在港口的國旗仍然迎風飄揚，他想這樣的詞句應該用〈給在天堂的安納克雷恩〉（「To Anacreon in Heaven」）的旋律來吟唱。

戰後，上述的歌詞與音樂首先在費城銷售，歌名為星條旗之歌（Star Spangled Banner），後來多在激發人們愛國新的地方播出；1889年，海軍總司令下令在每一次升國旗時、都應該要播放這首歌。

國會直到1931年，才通過將星條旗之歌（Star Spangled Banner）正式訂定為國歌的法案。

On the morning of September 14, 1814, Francis Scott Key was moved to write a poem that began "O, say can you see...?" while he was held aboard a British ship that had bombed Baltimore's Fort McHenry through the night. He couldn't believe that the fort's flag was still flying. Key thought his poem should be sung to an English melody called "To Anacreon in Heaven."

After the war, the poem and music were united and published first in Philadelphia as the "Star Spangled Banner," which was then played on patriotic occasions. In 1889, the secretary of the Navy ordered the song to be played each time the flag was raised.

Congress didn't pass a law making the "Star Spangled Banner" the national anthem until 1931.

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