The Star Spangled Banner

On September 7, 1814, Francis Scott Key and John Stuart Skinner boarded the British flagship, HMS Tonnant, on a mission to negotiate a prisoner exchange. After the discussion with the Major General and Vice Admiral on board, the two were held overnight since they had overheard battle plans. The British bombarded Fort McHenry through the night and Key didn't know the outcome until the next morning. That's when he wrote his famous song that was to become our national anthem -- The Star Spangled Banner. That was 198 years ago.

Any good American knows this song. Well, most. Well, some. Actually, I'd suggest that very few actually know it. I know I don't. You see, the song we sing is only the first verse. Key wrote four verses^*. And it is in the best interest of "separation of Church and State" that this be forgotten. You see, Key had a very clear idea of how Fort McHenry survived the attack. It's in the fourth verse.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

What makes America great? Our wealth? Our military might? Our superpower status? No. America rose to its pinnacle because of the underlying belief that "the Power" (capital "P") "made and preserved us a nation." Even as forces within our nation try to rip us loose from the motto, Key was quite sure that "In God is our trust" was our only hope, our only just cause, and the only reason we succeed. Of course, he would never be allowed to hold such a view today in public. If Francis Scott Key (and the rest of Christendom that agrees) is right, America is headed down a rough path in its flight from the One who made it the great nation it was.
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^* Here are the lyrics to all four verses:
The Star Spangled Banner
Francis Scott Key
September 8, 1814

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!