View source for Francis Scott Key

{{Short description|American lawyer and poet (1779–1843)}}
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{{Use American English|date=February 2026}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| occupation = {{hlist|Poet|lawyer}}
| image = Francis Scott Key by Joseph Wood c1825.jpg
| caption = Key {{circa|1825}}
| order = 4th
| office      = United States Attorney for the District of Columbia
| term_start = 1833
| term_end   = 1841
| predecessor = [[Thomas Swann (attorney)|Thomas Swann]]
| successor  = [[Philip Richard Fendall II]]
| president = {{ubl|[[Andrew Jackson]]|[[Martin Van Buren]]}}
| spouse = {{marriage|Mary Tayloe Lloyd|January 1, 1802}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|1779|8|1}}
| birth_place = [[Frederick County, Maryland]] (now [[Carroll County, Maryland|Carroll County]]), U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1843|1|11|1779|8|1}}
| death_place = [[Baltimore]], Maryland, U.S. <!-- No piped links or multiple links here per MOS:GEOLINK. -->
| resting_place = [[Mount Olivet Cemetery (Frederick, Maryland)|Mt. Olivet Cemetery]]
| children = 11,<ref name="Leepson-2014">Leepson, Marc, What so Proudly We Hailed: Francis Scott Key, a life (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), [https://books.google.com/books?id=tDFkAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA202 Appendix A, p. 202]</ref> including [[Philip Barton Key II|Philip]]
| relatives = {{ubl|[[Philip Barton Key]] (uncle)<br />[[John Tayloe II]] (grandfather)<br /> [[John Tayloe III]] (uncle) <br />[[Francis Key Howard]] (grandson)<br />[[F. Scott Fitzgerald]] (distant cousin)<br />[[Roger B. Taney]] (brother-in-law)<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44375033 |title='Star Spangled Banner,' Key and Chief Justice Taney – Did Taney Make a Pre-Nuptial Agreement with His Wife? |date=January 1912 |journal=The American Catholic Historical Researches |volume=8 |number=1 |pages=87–90 |access-date=August 1, 2022 |publisher=[[American Catholic Historical Society]] |jstor=44375033  }}</ref>}}
}}

'''Francis Scott Key''' (August 1, 1779{{snds}}January 11, 1843)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hofmag.com/francis-scott-key-star-spangled-banner/184235|title=Remembering Francis Scott Key: The Man Behind America's National Anthem 'The Star-Spangled Banner'|magazine=Hall of Fame|date=September 14, 2016|first=Kemberly|last=Penton|access-date=October 16, 2018|archive-date=October 19, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019201446/http://www.hofmag.com/francis-scott-key-star-spangled-banner/184235|url-status=dead}}</ref> was an American lawyer, author, and poet from [[Frederick, Maryland]], best known as the author of the poem "Defence of Fort M'Henry", which was set to a popular British tune and eventually became the American national anthem "[[The Star-Spangled Banner]]".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-story-behind-the-star-spangled-banner-149220970/ |last=Lineberry |first=Cate |date=March 1, 2007 |title=The Story Behind the Star Spangled Banner |work=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]] |access-date=June 20, 2020 |archive-date=February 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204190559/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-story-behind-the-star-spangled-banner-149220970/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1814 Key observed the British bombardment of [[Fort McHenry]] in [[Baltimore]] during the [[War of 1812]]. He was inspired upon seeing an American flag flying over the fort at dawn: his poem was published within a week with the suggested tune of the popular song "[[The Anacreontic Song|To Anacreon in Heaven]]".{{citation needed|date=March 2025}} The song with Key's lyrics became known as "The Star-Spangled Banner" and slowly gained in popularity as an unofficial anthem, finally achieving official status as the national anthem more than a century later in 1931.

Key was a lawyer in Maryland and Washington, D.C., for four decades and worked on important cases, including the [[Burr conspiracy]] trial, and he argued numerous times before the Supreme Court. He was nominated for [[United States Attorney for the District of Columbia|District Attorney for the District of Columbia]] by President [[Andrew Jackson]], where he served from 1833 to 1841.

Key owned slaves from 1800, during which time abolitionists ridiculed his words, claiming that America was more like the "Land of the Free and Home of the Oppressed".<ref>{{cite news |title=Where's the Debate on Francis Scott Key's Slave-Holding Legacy? |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/wheres-debate-francis-scott-keys-slave-holding-legacy-180959550/ |access-date=August 13, 2018 |agency=Smithsonian |archive-date=August 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230801231051/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/wheres-debate-francis-scott-keys-slave-holding-legacy-180959550/ |url-status=live }}</ref> As District Attorney, he suppressed abolitionists, and he lost a [[Trial of Reuben Crandall|case against Reuben Crandall]] in 1836 where he accused the defendant's abolitionist publications of instigating slaves to rebel. He was also a leader of the [[American Colonization Society]] which sent former slaves to Africa.<ref>{{cite news |title=The unexpected connection between slavery, NFL protests and the national anthem |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/29/sport/colin-kaepernick-flag-protest-has-history-trnd/index.html |work=CNN |access-date=August 9, 2018 |archive-date=August 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180810101159/https://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/29/sport/colin-kaepernick-flag-protest-has-history-trnd/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Francis Scott Key's life was a lot more complicated than just writing The Star-Spangled Banner |url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/francis-scott-keys-life-was-a-lot-more-complicated-than-just-writing-the-star-spangled-banner |newspaper=The Washington Examiner |access-date=August 9, 2018}}</ref> He freed some of his slaves in the 1830s, paying one as his farm foreman to supervise his other slaves.<ref name="Leepson" /> He publicly criticized slavery and gave free legal representation to some slaves seeking freedom, but he also represented owners of runaway slaves. He had eight slaves at the time of his death.<ref name="UNCP" />

Key was also a devout and prominent [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopalian]].

==Early life==
[[File:Mary Tayloe Lloyd (Mrs. Francis Scott Key).jpg|thumb|Mary Tayloe Lloyd, early 1800s]]
[[File:TerraRubra.jpg|thumb|right|[[Maryland Historical Society]] plaque marking Key's birthplace]]
Key was born into an affluent family.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Francis Scott Key {{!}} American lawyer |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francis-Scott-Key |access-date=2023-05-18 |website=Britannica |language=en |archive-date=July 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200706154116/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francis-Scott-Key |url-status=live }}</ref> Key's father [[John Ross Key]], of English descent, was a lawyer, a commissioned officer in the [[Continental Army]], and a judge.<ref name="Key Smith">{{cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40066994|title=A Sketch of Francis Scott Key, with a Glimpse of His Ancestors|first=F. S.|last=Key Smith|journal=Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C.|year=1909|volume=12|pages=71–88|jstor=40066994|access-date=June 24, 2021|archive-date=May 22, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210522053511/https://www.jstor.org/stable/40066994|url-status=live}}</ref> His mother, Ann Phoebe Dagworthy Charlton (February 6, 1756 – 1830), was born to Arthur Charlton, a tavern keeper, and his wife, Eleanor Harrison of Frederick, in the colony of Maryland.<ref name="Key Smith" /><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S_8HvAfI0LoC&dq=francis+scott+key+ann+phoebe+charlton&pg=PA58 |title=Key and Allied Families |first=Julian C. |last=Lane |publisher=Genealogical Publishing |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8063-4977-0 }}</ref>

Key grew up on the family plantation [[Terra Rubra]] in [[Frederick County, Maryland]], which is now in [[Carroll County, Maryland|Carroll County]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-f3caYlJTw0C&dq=Francis+Scott+Key+John+Ross+Key&pg=PA8 |title=Francis Scott Key: Patriotic Poet |first=Susan R. |last=Gregson |publisher=Capstone |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7368-1554-3 }}</ref> He graduated from [[St. John's College (Annapolis/Santa Fe)|St.{{nbsp}}John's College]], [[Annapolis, Maryland]], in 1796 and [[Reading law|read law]] under his uncle [[Philip Barton Key]] who was loyal to the British Crown during the War of Independence.<ref name="Hubbell 300">{{cite book |last=Hubbell |first=Jay B. |title=The South in American Literature: 1607–1900 |location=Durham, North Carolina |publisher=Duke University Press |year=1954 |page=300 }}</ref> He married Mary Tayloe Lloyd on January 1, 1802, daughter of [[Edward Lloyd (Continental Congress)|Edward Lloyd IV]] of [[Wye House]] and Elizabeth Tayloe, daughter of [[John Tayloe II]] of [[Mount Airy Plantation|Mount Airy]] and sister of [[John Tayloe III]] of [[The Octagon House]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Tayloe |first=Walter Randolph |title=The Tayloes of Virginia And Allied Families |location=Berryville, Virginia |page=5 |year=1963 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89066361866&view=1up&seq=23&q1=key |archive-date=May 22, 2021 |access-date=November 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210522051310/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89066361866&view=1up&seq=23&q1=key |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thebeaconnewspapers.com/becoming-mr-and-mrs-francis-scott-key/|title=Becoming Mr. And Mrs. Francis Scott Key|date=October 2, 2014|work=The Beacon|first=Carol|last=Sorgen|access-date=September 13, 2021|archive-date=November 3, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231103174803/https://www.thebeaconnewspapers.com/becoming-mr-and-mrs-francis-scott-key/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francis-Scott-Key |title=Francis Scott Key &#124; American lawyer |date=July 28, 2021 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |first=Marc |last=Leepson |access-date=September 13, 2021 |archive-date=August 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210827105420/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francis-Scott-Key |url-status=live }}</ref> The couple raised their 11 children in their [[Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)|Georgetown]] residence, the [[Key House]].<ref name=children>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tDFkAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA202 | title=What So Proudly We Hailed: Francis Scott Key, A Life | publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group | author=Leepson, Marc | year=2014 | pages=26, 222 | isbn=9781137278289}}</ref>

=="The Star-Spangled Banner"==
{{Main|The Star-Spangled Banner}}

Key and Colonel John Stuart Skinner dined aboard {{HMS|Tonnant|1798|6}} on September 7, 1814, following the [[Burning of Washington]] in August. They were the guests of Vice-Admiral [[Alexander Cochrane]], Rear-Admiral [[Sir George Cockburn, 10th Baronet|George Cockburn]], and Major-General [[Robert Ross (British Army officer)|Robert Ross]]. Skinner and Key were there to plead for the release of Dr. William Beanes, a physician who resided in [[Upper Marlboro, Maryland]], and a friend of Key who had been captured in his home on August 28. Beanes was accused of aiding the detention of several [[British Army]] stragglers who were ransacking local homes in search of food. Skinner, Key, and the released Beanes were allowed to return under guard to their own truce ship,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/separating-fact-from-fiction-about-the-star-spangled-banner |title=Separating fact from fiction about 'The Star-Spangled Banner' |date=September 14, 2016 |website=[[National Constitution Center]] |first=Mark |last=Clague |access-date=July 4, 2022 |archive-date=March 31, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331045007/https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/separating-fact-from-fiction-about-the-star-spangled-banner |url-status=live }}</ref> but they were not allowed to go ashore because they had become familiar with the strength and position of the British units and their intention to launch an attack on Baltimore. Key was unable to do anything but watch the 25-hour bombardment of the American forces at [[Fort McHenry]] during the [[Battle of Baltimore]] from dawn of September 13 to the next morning.<ref name="Vogel TTPF">Vogel, Steve. "Through the Perilous Fight: Six Weeks That Saved the Nation" – Random House, New York. 2013. (pp. 271–274, 311–341)</ref><ref name="Vaise (video)">Vaise, Vince (Chief Park Ranger, Fort McHenry). "[https://www.c-span.org/video/?321206-1/discussion-fort-mchenry-birth-star-spangled-banner&fbclid=IwAR21Hel99h2QxGIXDupCHEFudhxa19uQew-NhLc0xSURoUS7DKxXpNTsbk4 Birth of the Star Spangled Banner] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230403214658/https://www.c-span.org/video/?321206-1/discussion-fort-mchenry-birth-star-spangled-banner&fbclid=IwAR21Hel99h2QxGIXDupCHEFudhxa19uQew-NhLc0xSURoUS7DKxXpNTsbk4 |date=April 3, 2023 }}" Video tour from Fort McHenry. American History TV: American Artifacts, C-Span – August 2014</ref><ref>Skinner, John Stuart. "[https://archive.org/details/marylandhistoric3219mary/page/340/mode/2up Incidents of the War of 1812]" From The Baltimore Patriot, May 23, 1849. Reprinted: Maryland Historical Magazine, Baltimore. Volume 32, 1937. (pp. 340–347)</ref>

[[File:Fort mc henry cannon Baltimore.jpg|thumb|[[Fort McHenry]] looking towards the position of the British ships, with the [[Francis Scott Key Bridge (Baltimore)|Francis Scott Key Bridge]] in the distance on the upper left]]

At dawn, Key was able to see a large American flag waving over the fort, and he started writing a poem about his experience on the back of a letter that he had kept in his pocket. On September 16, Key, Skinner, and Beanes were released from the fleet. When they arrived in Baltimore that evening, Key completed the poem in his room at the Indian Queen Hotel. His untitled and unsigned manuscript was printed as a broadside the next day under the title "Defence of Fort M'Henry", with the notation: "Tune – [[Anacreon in Heaven]]". This was 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]].<ref name="mythb">{{cite web |first=Mark |last=Clague |title=Star-Spangled Mythbusting |date=June 5, 2014 |url=https://www.chorusamerica.org/singers/star-spangled-mythbusting |website=Chorus America |access-date=September 13, 2021 |archive-date=September 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210913151405/https://www.chorusamerica.org/singers/star-spangled-mythbusting |url-status=live }}</ref> It was published in newspapers, first in Baltimore and then across the nation, under the new title [[The Star-Spangled Banner]]. 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]]. The song was finally adopted as the American national anthem more than a century after its first publication by Act of Congress in 1931, signed by President [[Herbert Hoover]].<ref name="mythb" />

==Legal career==
[[File:Francis Scott Key law office Frederick MD1.jpg|thumb|left|Key law office on Court Street in Frederick, Maryland]]
Key was a leading attorney in Frederick, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., for many years, with an extensive real estate and trial practice. He and his family settled in [[Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)|Georgetown]] in 1805 or 1806, near the new national capital. He assisted his uncle [[Philip Barton Key]] in the sensational conspiracy trial of [[Aaron Burr]] and in the expulsion of [[John Smith (Ohio politician, died 1824)|Senator John Smith]] of Ohio. He made the first of his many arguments before the [[United States Supreme Court]] in 1807. In 1808, he assisted President [[Thomas Jefferson]]'s attorney general in ''United States{{nbsp}}v.{{nbsp}}Peters''.<ref>Leepson, pp. 16, 20–24.</ref>

In 1829, Key assisted in the prosecution of [[Tobias Watkins]], former U.S. Treasury auditor under President [[John Quincy Adams]], for misappropriating public funds. He also handled the [[Petticoat affair]] concerning Secretary of War [[John Eaton (politician)|John Eaton]],<ref>Leepson, pp. 116–122.</ref> and he served as the attorney for [[Sam Houston]] in 1832 during his trial for assaulting Representative [[William Stanbery]] of Ohio.<ref>[http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fho73 Sam Houston] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160420234122/https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fho73 |date=April 20, 2016 }}. Handbook of Texas Online.</ref> After years as an adviser to President Jackson, Key was nominated by the President to District Attorney for the District of Columbia in 1833.<ref name="Britannica">{{Cite web |title=Francis Scott Key {{!}} American lawyer |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francis-Scott-Key |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en |access-date=June 15, 2020 |archive-date=July 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200706154116/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francis-Scott-Key |url-status=live }}</ref> He served from 1833 to 1841 while also handling his own private legal cases.<ref name="bookrags">{{Cite web |url=http://www.bookrags.com/biography/francis-scott-key/ |title=Francis Scott Key {{!}} Biography |website=Encyclopedia of World Biography |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180404201350/https://www.bookrags.com/biography/francis-scott-key/ |archive-date=April 4, 2018 |access-date=July 9, 2012}}</ref> In 1835, he prosecuted [[Richard Lawrence (failed assassin)|Richard Lawrence]] for his attempt to assassinate President Jackson at the top steps of the Capitol, the first attempt to kill an American president.

==Key and slavery==
[[File:Francis Scott Key (NPG).jpg|thumb|left|Portrait of Key by [[Rembrandt Peale]], {{circa|1796}}]]
Key purchased his first slave in 1800 or 1801 and owned six slaves in 1820.<ref>Leepson p. 25</ref> He freed seven in the 1830s, and owned eight when he died.<ref name="UNCP">{{cite book |title=Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation's Capital |date=2007 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press Books |page=55}}</ref> One of his freed slaves continued to work for him for wages as his farm's foreman, supervising several slaves.<ref name="Leepson">Leepson pp. 130–131 post-Turner's rebellion emancipations of Romeo, William Ridout, Elizabeth Hicks, Clem Johnson.</ref> Key also represented several slaves seeking their freedom, as well as several slave-owners seeking return of their runaway slaves.<ref name="HuffPost">{{cite web|last=Morley|first=Jefferson|title='Land of the Free?' Francis Scott Key, Composer of National Anthem, Was Defender of Slavery|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/francis-scott-key_b_1645878|date=September 2, 2012|work=[[HuffPost]]|access-date=September 23, 2019|archive-date=September 23, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190923092950/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/francis-scott-key_b_1645878|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Leepson pp. 125</ref> 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 freedmen and women with land to support themselves.<ref>May, Gregory, A Madman's Will: John Randolph, 400 Slaves, and the Mirage of Freedom (New York: Liveright, 2023), 113–17; Leepson, p. 144</ref>

Key is known to have publicly criticized slavery's cruelties, and a newspaper editorial stated that "he often volunteered to defend the downtrodden sons and daughters of Africa." The editor said that Key "convinced me that slavery was wrong—radically wrong".<ref>Leepson p. 26 citing Cincinnati Daily Gazette July 11, 1870</ref>

A quote increasingly credited to Key stating that free black people are "a distinct and inferior race of people, which all experience proves to be the greatest evil that afflicts a community" is erroneous.<ref>{{Cite web |title=An Erroneous Francis Scott Key Quote |date=June 26, 2020 |url=http://starspangledmusic.org/an-erroneous-francis-scott-key-quote/ |publisher=Star Spangled Music Foundation |language=en |access-date=June 27, 2020 |archive-date=June 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629084547/http://starspangledmusic.org/an-erroneous-francis-scott-key-quote/ |url-status=live }}
In response to a question asking why some Colonizationists thought that slaves should not be emancipated, Key says (as reprinted in an 1839 pamphlet by Augustus Palmer):
"It is, I believe, universally so thought by them. I never heard a contrary opinion, except that some conceived, some time ago, that the territory of our country, to the West, might be set apart for them. But few, comparatively adopted this idea; and I never hear it advocated now. This opinion is founded on the conviction that their labor, however it might be needed, could not be secured, but by a severer system of constraint than that of slavery—that they would constitute a distinct and inferior race of people, which all experience proves to be the greatest evil that could afflict a community. I do not suppose, however, that they would object to their reception in the free States, if they chose to make preparations for their comfortable settlement among them."</ref> The quote is taken from an 1838 letter that Key wrote to Reverend Benjamin Tappan of Maine who had sent Key a questionnaire about the attitudes of Southern religious institutions about slavery. Rather than representing a statement by Key identifying his personal thoughts, the words quoted are offered by Key to describe the attitudes of others who assert that former slaves could not remain in the U.S. as paid laborers. This was the official policy of the [[American Colonization Society]]. 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. The original confusion around this quote arises from ambiguities in the 1937 biography of Key by Edward S. Delaplaine.<ref>{{cite book |last=Delaplaine |first=Edward S. |title=Francis Scott Key: Life and Times |publisher=Heritage Books |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-5854-9685-3 |orig-year=1937 by The Biography Press |page=449 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H6D6MAAACAAJ }}</ref>

Key was a founding member and active leader of the [[American Colonization Society]] (ACS), whose primary goal was to send free black people to Africa.<ref name="HuffPost" /> Though many free black people were born in the United States by this time, historians argue that upper-class American society, of which Key was a part, could never "envision a multiracial society".<ref name="Smithsonian Mag">{{Cite web |title=Francis Scott Key, the Reluctant Patriot |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/francis-scott-key-the-reluctant-patriot-180937178/ |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en |access-date=June 15, 2020 |archive-date=June 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614142246/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/francis-scott-key-the-reluctant-patriot-180937178/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The ACS was not supported by most abolitionists or free black people of the time, but the organization's work would eventually lead to the creation of [[Liberia]] in 1847.<ref name="Britannica" /><ref name="Smithsonian Mag" />

===Anti-abolitionism===
In the early 1830s American thinking on slavery changed quite abruptly. Considerable opposition to the American Colonization Society's project emerged. Led by newspaper editor and publisher [[William Lloyd Garrison]], a growing portion of the population noted that only a very small number of free black people were actually moved, and they faced brutal conditions in West Africa, with very high mortality. Free Black people 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. The leaders of the American Colonization Society, including Key, were predominantly slave owners. The Society was intended to preserve slavery, rather than eliminate it. In the words of philanthropist [[Gerrit Smith]], it was "quite as much an Anti-Abolition, as Colonization Society".<ref name="Smith">Smith, Hal H. "Historic Washington Homes". ''Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington.'' 1908.{{page needed|date=September 2021}}</ref> "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 alternative to the colonization of Africa, project of the American Colonization Society, was the total and immediate [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolition of slavery in the United States]]. This Key was firmly against, with or without [[compensated emancipation|slave owner compensation]], and he used his position as District Attorney to attack abolitionists.<ref name="HuffPost" /> In 1833, he secured a grand jury indictment against [[Benjamin Lundy]], editor of the anti-slavery publication ''[[Genius of Universal Emancipation]]'', and his printer William Greer, for [[Defamation|libel]] after Lundy published an article that declared, "There is neither mercy nor justice for colored people in this district [of Columbia]". Lundy's article, Key said in the indictment, "was intended to injure, oppress, aggrieve, and vilify the good name, fame, credit & reputation of the Magistrates and constables" of Washington. Lundy left town rather than face trial; Greer was acquitted.<ref>{{cite book
|last=Morley
|first=Jefferson
|title=Snow-Storm in August: Washington City, Francis Scott Key and the Forgotten Race Riot of 1835
|publisher=[[Nan Talese/Doubleday]]
|location=New York
|date=2012
|page=81}}</ref>

====Prosecution of Reuben Crandall====
{{main|Trial of Reuben Crandall}}
In a larger unsuccessful prosecution, in August 1836 Key obtained an [[Trial of Reuben Crandall|indictment against Reuben Crandall]], brother of controversial Connecticut teacher [[Prudence Crandall]], who had recently moved to Washington, D.C. It accused Crandall of "[[seditious libel]]" after two marshals (who operated as [[slave catcher]]s in their off hours) found Crandall had a trunk full of [[anti-slavery]] publications in his Georgetown residence and office, five days after the [[Snow Riot|Snow riot]], caused by rumors that a mentally ill slave had attempted to kill an elderly white woman. In an April 1837 trial that attracted nationwide attention and that congressmen attended, Key charged that Crandall's publications instigated [[Slave rebellion|slaves to rebel]]. Crandall's attorneys acknowledged he opposed slavery, but denied any intent or actions to encourage rebellion. Evidence was introduced that the anti-slavery publications were packing materials used by his landlady in shipping his possessions to him. He had not "published" anything; he had given one copy to one man who had asked for it.<ref>{{cite book
|title=The trial of Reuben Crandall, M.D. : charged with publishing seditious libels, by circulating the publications of the American Anti-Slavery Society, before the Circuit Court for the District of Columbia, held at Washington, in April, 1836, occupying the court the period of ten days|year=1836|page=43|location=New York|publisher=H. R. Piercy
|url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbcmisc.lst0092/?st=gallery|access-date=2022-04-08|archive-date=2020-09-02
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200902102603/https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbcmisc.lst0092/?st=gallery|url-status=live}}</ref>

Key, in his final address to the jury said:

{{blockquote|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? Or, gentlemen, on the other hand, are there laws in this community to defend you from the immediate abolitionist, who would open upon you the floodgates of such extensive wickedness and mischief?<ref>{{cite book |last1=Finkelman |first1=Paul |title=Slave Rebels, Abolitionists, and Southern Courts: The Pamphlet Literature |date=2007 |publisher=The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd |page=364}}</ref>}}

The jury acquitted Crandall of all charges.<ref>Morley, Jefferson, ''Snow-Storm in August: Washington City, Francis Scott Key and the Forgotten Race Riot of 1835'' (Nan Talese/Doubleday, New York, 2012), 211–220</ref><ref>Leepson, pp. 169–172, 181–185</ref> This public and humiliating defeat, as well as family tragedies in 1835, diminished Key's political ambition. He resigned as District Attorney in 1840. He remained a staunch proponent of African colonization and a strong critic of the abolition movement until his death.<ref name="Globalist">{{cite web| last1=Morley| first1=Jefferson| title=What role did the famous author of "The Star-Spangled Banner" play in the debate over American slavery?| url=http://www.theglobalist.com/francis-scott-key-and-the-slavery-question/| website=The Globalist| date=July 5, 2013| access-date=October 7, 2014| archive-date=October 10, 2014| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141010103622/http://www.theglobalist.com/francis-scott-key-and-the-slavery-question/| url-status=live}}</ref>

Crandall died shortly after his acquittal of pneumonia contracted in the Washington jail.

==Religion==
Key was a devout and prominent [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopalian]]. In his youth, he almost became an Episcopal priest rather than a lawyer.<ref>{{Cite web|title=A–Z Glossary: Key, Francis Scott|url=https://episcopalchurch.org/library/glossary/key-francis-scott|website=An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church |publisher=The Episcopal Church |access-date=June 5, 2020}}</ref> Throughout his life he sprinkled biblical references in his correspondence.<ref>Leepson, pp. x–xi.</ref> He was active in [[All Saints Church (Frederick, Maryland)|All Saints Parish]] in Frederick, Maryland, near his family's home. He also helped found or financially support several parishes in the new national capital, including [[St. John's Episcopal Church, Georgetown|St. John's Episcopal Church]] in [[Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)|Georgetown]], [[Trinity Episcopal Church (Washington, D.C.)|Trinity Episcopal Church]] in present-day [[Judiciary Square]], and [[Christ Church (Alexandria, Virginia)|Christ Church]] in [[Alexandria, Virginia|Alexandria]] (at the time, in the District of Columbia). He was described as a "devoted and intimate friend" of Bishop [[William Meade]] of Virginia, and his "good literary taste" was credited for the quality of the church's hymnal.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=1929-11-04 |title=Letters: Nov. 4, 1929 |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,787480-3,00.html |access-date=2024-06-16 |magazine=Time |language=en-US |issn=0040-781X}}</ref>

From 1818 until his death in 1843, Key was associated with the [[American Bible Society]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.americanbible.org/about/history |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100723045901/http://www.americanbible.org/about/history |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 23, 2010 |title=History of American Bible Society – American Bible Society |work=americanbible.org |access-date=November 25, 2015 }}</ref> He successfully opposed an abolitionist resolution presented to that group around 1838. {{citation needed|date=November 2021}}

Key also helped found two Episcopal seminaries, one in Baltimore and the other across the [[Potomac River]] in Alexandria (the [[Virginia Theological Seminary]]). Key also published a prose work called ''The Power of Literature, and Its Connection with Religion'', in 1834.<ref name="Hubbell 300" /><!--The US national motto "[[In God We Trust]]" was adapted from a phrase in Key's "Star-Spangled Banner", the fourth stanza of which includes the phrase, "And this be our motto: 'In God is our Trust'", leading some to speculate that the phrase was derived from the song.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://time.com/4179685/in-god-we-trust-currency-history/ |title=How 'In God We Trust' Got on the Currency in the First Place |first=Sarah |last=Begley |magazine=Time |date=January 13, 2016 |access-date=February 24, 2018 }}</ref>-->

==Death and legacy==
[[File:Howard vault.jpg|thumb|right|The Howard family vault at Saint Paul's Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland]]

On January 11, 1843, Key died at the home of his daughter Elizabeth Howard in Baltimore from [[pleurisy]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jason |first1=Philip K.|first2=Mark A. |last2=Graves |title=Encyclopedia of American war literature|year=2001|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, Conn.|page=197}}</ref> at age 63. He was initially interred in [[Old Saint Paul's Cemetery]] in the vault of [[John Eager Howard]] but in 1866, his body was moved to his family plot in [[Frederick, Maryland|Frederick]] at [[Mount Olivet Cemetery (Frederick)|Mount Olivet Cemetery]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mountolivethistory.com/francis-scott-key.html |title=Francis Scott Key |website=Mount Olive History |author=Friends of Mount Olivet Cemetery |access-date=September 12, 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/001400/001453/html/1453extbio.html |chapter=George Howard (1789–1846) |year=1970 |title=The Governors of Maryland 1777–1970 |location=Annapolis |pages=101–104 |publisher=The Hall of Records Commission |via=Archives of Maryland |quote=the Howard family vault in Old St. Paul's Cemetery where ... John Eager Howard is also buried |archive-date=April 8, 2022 |access-date=September 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408115618/https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/001400/001453/html/1453extbio.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1898/08/10/archives/key-monument-unveiled-memorial-to-the-author-of-the-starspangled.html |title=Key Monument Unveiled |date=August 10, 1898 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=November 5, 2021 |url-access=limited }}</ref>

Despite several efforts to preserve it, the Francis Scott Key residence was ultimately dismantled in{{nbsp}}1947. The residence had been located at 3516{{ndash}}18{{nbsp}}M{{nbsp}}Street in Georgetown.<ref>[http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=119 Francis Scott Key Park Marker] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071030033641/http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=119 |date=October 30, 2007 }}. Hmdb.org. Retrieved September 11, 2011.</ref>

Though Key had written poetry from time to time, often with heavily religious themes, these works were not collected and published until 14{{nbsp}}years after his death, in 1857.<ref name="Hubbell 300" /> Two of his religious poems used as Christian [[hymn]]s include "Before the Lord We Bow" and "Lord, with Glowing Heart I'd Praise Thee".<ref>{{cite web|title=Francis Scott Key|website=The Cyber Hymnal|url=http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/k/e/y/f/key_fs.htm|access-date=March 29, 2022|archive-date=January 19, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119141458/http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/k/e/y/f/key_fs.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

In{{nbsp}}1806, Key's sister, Anne Phoebe Charlton Key, married [[Roger&nbsp;B.&nbsp;Taney]], who would later become [[Chief Justice of the United States]]. In 1846&nbsp;one daughter, Alice, married U.S.&nbsp;Senator [[George H. Pendleton]]<ref>{{cite web|title=George Hunt Pendleton|url=http://www.ohiocivilwarcentral.com/entry.php?rec=934|publisher=Ohio Civil War Central|date=March 2012|access-date=June 26, 2012|archive-date=November 25, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151125062442/http://www.ohiocivilwarcentral.com/entry.php?rec=934|url-status=live}}</ref> and another, Ellen Lloyd, married [[Simon F. Blunt]]. In{{nbsp}}1859, Key's son [[Philip Barton Key II]], who also served as [[United States Attorney for the District of Columbia]], was shot and killed by [[Daniel Sickles]]{{nsmdns}}a U.S.{{nbsp}}Representative from New York who would serve as a general in the [[American Civil War]]{{nsmdns}}after he discovered that Philip Barton Key was having an affair with his wife.<ref>{{cite news |title=Assassination of Philip Barton Key, by Daniel E. Sickles of New York |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courant/access/824716112.html?dids=824716112:824716112&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Mar+01,+1859&author=&pub=Hartford+Courant&desc=Assassination+of+Philip+Barton+Key,+by+Daniel+E.+Sickles+of+New+York&pqatl=google |work=[[Hartford Daily Courant]] |date=March 1, 1959 |access-date=November 30, 2010 |archive-date=June 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629003510/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courant/access/824716112.html?dids=824716112:824716112&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Mar+01,+1859&author=&pub=Hartford+Courant&desc=Assassination+of+Philip+Barton+Key,+by+Daniel+E.+Sickles+of+New+York&pqatl=google |url-status=dead }}</ref> Sickles was acquitted in the first use of the temporary insanity defense.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Twain | first = Mark | author-link = Mark Twain | title = The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume One | publisher = University of California Press | year = 2010 | location = [[Berkeley, California]] | page = [https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofm00twai_0/page/566 566] | isbn = 978-0-520-26719-0 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofm00twai_0/page/566 }}</ref> In{{nbsp}}1861, Key's grandson [[Frank Key Howard|Francis Key Howard]] was imprisoned in [[Fort&nbsp;McHenry]] with the [[List of mayors of Baltimore|Mayor of Baltimore]] [[George William Brown (mayor)|George William Brown]] and other locals deemed to be [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] sympathizers.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}

[[F.&nbsp;Scott Fitzgerald]], whose full name was Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, was a distant cousin and the namesake of Key. Key's direct descendants include geneticist [[Thomas Hunt Morgan]], guitarist [[Dana Key]], and American fashion designer and socialite [[Pauline de Rothschild]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.poemhunter.com/francis-scott-key/biography/|title=Francis Scott Key – Francis Scott Key Biography|website=Poem Hunter|access-date=April 13, 2018|archive-date=April 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180413125644/https://www.poemhunter.com/francis-scott-key/biography/|url-status=live}}{{self-published source|date=September 2021}}</ref>{{self-published source|date=September 2021}}

==Monuments and memorials==
[[File:Key Monument Eutaw Place Baltimore MD1.jpg|thumb|[[Francis Scott Key Monument]] in [[Baltimore|Baltimore, Maryland]]]]
* [[Francis Scott Key Monument]] in Baltimore, Maryland; French sculptor [[Antonin Mercié]] was commissioned after $25,000 was given for the work. It was erected in the city in 1911.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hopkins |first=Johns |title=Francis Scott Key Monument |url=https://explore.baltimoreheritage.org/items/show/105 |access-date=2024-03-28 |website=Explore Baltimore Heritage |language=en |archive-date=February 21, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240221143517/https://explore.baltimoreheritage.org/items/show/105 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="key2">{{cite web |url=http://www.heritagepreservation.org/NEWS/Key.htm |title=Restored Key Monument Rededicated |accessdate=2011-04-26 |quote=Charles Marburg gave $25,000 to his brother Theodore to commission a monument to his favorite poet, Francis Scott Key. The French sculptor Marius Jean Antonin Mercie was the selected artist. At the time, Mercié was known for European sculptures and the Robert E. Lee (1890) equestrian bronze in Richmond, Virginia, and collaboration with General Lafayette (1891) in the District of Columbia. |publisher=[[Heritage Preservation]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927070838/http://www.heritagepreservation.org/NEWS/Key.htm |archive-date=September 27, 2011}}</ref>
* Two bridges were named in Key's honor:
** [[Key Bridge (Washington, D.C.)|The first]] is between the [[Rosslyn, Virginia|Rosslyn]] section of [[Arlington County, Virginia]], and [[Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)|Georgetown]] in Washington, D.C., where Key had lived. The home, which was dismantled in 1947 as part of construction of the [[U.S. Route 29 in the District of Columbia|Whitehurst Freeway]], was located on M Street NW, in the area between the Key Bridge and the intersection of M Street and Whitehurst Freeway, as is illustrated on a sign in nearby Francis Scott Key park.<ref>{{cite web
   |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=237624
   |title=Francis Scott Key Park
   |publisher=Historical Marker Database
   |date=February 23, 2006
   |access-date=February 6, 2008
   |archive-date=March 26, 2024
   |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240326172649/https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=237624
   |url-status=live
   }}</ref><!-- it was torn down for the Whitehurst Freeway, which was built in 1949 -->
** [[Francis Scott Key Bridge (Baltimore)|The other bridge]] was part of the [[Interstate 695 (Maryland)|Baltimore Beltway]] crossing the outer harbor of Baltimore, and was located at the approximate point where the British anchored to shell Fort McHenry. It stood until March 26, 2024, when it was [[Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse|destroyed by a cargo ship]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://mdta.maryland.gov/Toll_Facilities/FSK.html |title=Francis Scott Key Bridge (I-695) |publisher=Maryland Transportation Authority |access-date=September 10, 2019 |archive-date=March 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240327022635/https://mdta.maryland.gov/Toll_Facilities/FSK.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2024-03-26 |title=Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapses after ship struck it, sending vehicles into water |url=https://apnews.com/article/baltimore-bridge-collapse-53169b379820032f832de4016c655d1b |access-date=2024-03-26 |language=en |archive-date=March 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240326110240/https://apnews.com/article/baltimore-bridge-collapse-53169b379820032f832de4016c655d1b |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[St. John's College (Annapolis/Santa Fe)|St. John's College, Annapolis]], from which Key graduated in 1796, has an [[auditorium]] named in his honor.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sjc.edu/annapolis/events/concerts|title=Annapolis Concerts – Community Events – Music|publisher=St. John's College|access-date=November 30, 2017|archive-date=December 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201044852/https://www.sjc.edu/annapolis/events/concerts|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Francis Scott Key was inducted into the [[Songwriters Hall of Fame]] in 1970.<ref>{{cite web|title=Francis Scott Key|url=https://www.songhall.org/profile/Francis_Scott_Key|publisher=Songwriters Hall of Fame|access-date=October 6, 2017|archive-date=March 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303192410/https://www.songhall.org/profile/Francis_Scott_Key|url-status=live}}</ref>
* He is buried at [[Mount Olivet Cemetery (Frederick, Maryland)|Mount Olivet Cemetery]] in Frederick, the same resting place as that of [[Thomas Johnson (jurist)|Thomas Johnson]], the first governor of Maryland, and friend [[Barbara Fritchie]], who allegedly waved the American flag out of her home in defiance of [[Stonewall Jackson]]'s march through the city during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-40-key-memorial-20140813-story.html |title=Francis Scott Key legacy lives on in Frederick |date=August 14, 2014 |first=Pamela |last=Wood |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |access-date=October 30, 2018 |quote=Maryland's first governor, Thomas Johnson, is buried there, as is Barbara Fritchie |archive-date=October 31, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181031005258/http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-40-key-memorial-20140813-story.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://barbarafritchie.org/history/ |title=History |publisher=Barbara Fritchie House |access-date=October 30, 2018 |quote=She was a friend of Francis Scott Key |archive-date=September 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180903124301/http://barbarafritchie.org/history/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Gardener |first1=Karen |title=The Ballad of 'Barbara Frietchie:' Is her story truth, fiction or somewhere in between? |url=https://www.fredericknewspost.com/archive/the-ballad-of-barbara-frietchie-is-her-story-truth-fiction/article_f619a8e2-d41f-5ef2-8474-3f0e122d39c8.html |work=The Frederick News-Post |date=July 1, 2012 |access-date=June 15, 2018 |archive-date=October 29, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161029131452/http://www.fredericknewspost.com/archive/the-ballad-of-barbara-frietchie-is-her-story-truth-fiction/article_f619a8e2-d41f-5ef2-8474-3f0e122d39c8.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
* Francis Scott Key Hall at the [[University of Maryland, College Park]] is named in his honor.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.dbknews.com/2015/12/13/the-name-byrd-stadium-is-no-more-but-other-umd-buildings-have-discriminatory-namesakes-too-2/|title=The name Byrd Stadium is no more, but other UMD buildings have discriminatory namesakes, too|work=The Diamondback|access-date=November 3, 2017}}</ref> The [[George Washington University]] also has a residence hall in Key's honor at the corner of 20th and F Streets.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://living.gwu.edu/francis-scott-key-fsk-hall|title=Francis Scott Key (FSK) Hall {{!}} GW Housing {{!}} Division of Student Affairs|publisher=The George Washington University|access-date=June 11, 2018|archive-date=June 12, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612142133/https://living.gwu.edu/francis-scott-key-fsk-hall|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Francis Scott Key High School]] in rural [[Carroll County, Maryland]].
* [[Key Middle School (Texas)|Francis Scott Key Middle School]] in Houston, Texas
* [[Silver Spring, Maryland#Middle schools|Francis Scott Key Middle School]] in [[Silver Spring, Maryland]]
* Francis Scott Key Elementary School (several, including California,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.francisscottkeyschool.org/home |title=Francis Scott Key Elementary School, San Francisco, CA |access-date=July 20, 2009 |archive-date=April 26, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090426024023/http://francisscottkeyschool.org/home |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Prince George's County Public Schools|Maryland]], [[Francis Scott Key Elementary School (Arlington, Virginia)|Virginia]], [[The Palisades, Washington, D.C.|Washington, D.C.]]); [[Francis Scott Key School]] in [[Philadelphia]].
* [[Francis Scott Key Mall]] in Frederick, [[Frederick County, Maryland]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://shopfskmall.com/|title=Francis Scott Key Mall |access-date=April 7, 2018}}</ref>
* The [[Frederick Keys]] minor league baseball team&nbsp;– a [[Baltimore Orioles|Baltimore]] affiliate&nbsp;– is named after Key.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1DaQ8oNXuE0C&pg=PA75 |title=The Ultimate Minor League Baseball Road Trip: A Fan's Guide to AAA, AA, A, and Independent League Stadiums |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9781599216270 }}</ref>
* The [[World War II]] [[Liberty ship]] {{SS|Francis Scott Key}} was named in his honor.
* The US Navy named a submarine in his honor, the {{USS|Francis Scott Key|SSBN-657}}.
* A [[Statue of Francis Scott Key (San Francisco)|monument to Francis Scott Key]] was commissioned by San Francisco businessman [[James Lick]], who donated some $60,000 for a sculpture of Key to be raised in [[Golden Gate Park]].<ref name="key">{{cite web
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1897/03/14/archives/francis-scott-key.html
|title=Francis Scott Key
|date=March 14, 1897
|work=[[The New York Times]]
|quote=Francis Scott Key, the author of "The Star-Spangled Banner," is to have a monument erected to his memory by the citizens of Baltimore, Md., the city in which he died. The monument will be in the form of a bronze statue of heroic size, with a suitable pedestal&nbsp;– the work of Alexander Doyle, a sculptor of this city. ... There is a monument to Key in Golden Gate Park. It was executed by William W. Story ...
|access-date=February 17, 2008
|archive-date=April 5, 2018
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405030052/https://www.nytimes.com/1897/03/14/archives/francis-scott-key.html
|url-status=live
}}</ref> The nation's first memorial to Francis Scott Key, the [[travertine]] monument was executed by sculptor [[William W. Story]] in Rome in 1885–87.<ref name="key" /><ref>{{cite web
   |url=http://www.noehill.com/sf/landmarks/sf096.asp
   |title=San Francisco Landmark 96: Francis Scott Key Monument, Golden Gate Park
   |publisher=Noehill in San Francisco
   |access-date=February 17, 2008
   |archive-date=February 20, 2008
   |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080220060922/http://www.noehill.com/sf/landmarks/sf096.asp
   |url-status=live
   }}</ref> The city of San Francisco allocated some {{US$|140,000|link=yes}} to renovate the Key monument, and repairs had been recently finished on the monument as of April 2020.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.opensfhistory.org/osfhcrucible/2020/04/19/the-wandering-key-a-closer-look/ |title=The Wandering Key: A Closer Look |date=April 19, 2020 |website=OpenSFHistory |publisher=Western Neighborhoods Project |first=Arnold |last=Woods |access-date=February 24, 2025 |quote=recently received a $140,000 renovation}}</ref> The statue was toppled by protesters on [[Juneteenth|June 19, 2020]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/editorspicks/article/Protest-updates-Friday-Juneteenth-events-Bay-Area-15352164.php |title=Protest updates: Protesters tear down 2 statues in Golden Gate Park |date=June 20, 2020 |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |access-date=June 20, 2020 |archive-date=June 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200620092803/https://www.sfgate.com/news/editorspicks/article/Protest-updates-Friday-Juneteenth-events-Bay-Area-15352164.php |url-status=live }}</ref> It has been replaced by 350 black steel sculptures—each {{convert|4|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} high—that honor the [[First Africans in Virginia|first 350 Africans kidnapped and forced onto a slave ship headed across the Atlantic from Angola to Virginia in 1619]]. The sculptor is [[Dana King]].<ref name="Key statue">{{cite news |last=Goldberg |first=Barbara |date=June 11, 2021 |title='Reckoning' with slavery: toppled Francis Scott Key statue replaced by African figures |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/reckoning-with-slavery-toppled-francis-scott-key-statue-replaced-by-african-2021-06-11/ |work=[[Reuters]] |archive-date=September 12, 2022 |access-date=June 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220912152441/https://www.reuters.com/world/us/reckoning-with-slavery-toppled-francis-scott-key-statue-replaced-by-african-2021-06-11/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Francis Scott Key Monument San Francisco December 2016 panorama.jpg|center|thumb|[[Statue of Francis Scott Key (San Francisco)|Francis Scott Key Monument]] as it stood in [[Golden Gate Park]], San Francisco, until it was toppled in June 2020. The empty plinth is now surrounded by 350 black steel sculptures that honor [[First Africans in Virginia|the 350 Africans kidnapped from Angola into Virginia]] and transported across the [[Atlantic slave trade|Atlantic on slave ships]].<ref name="Key statue" />]]

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Poetry}}
* [[In God We Trust]]
* [[War of 1812]]

==References==
{{Reflist|35em}}

==External links==
{{sister project links|collapsible=true|auto=1|author=y}}
* 2014 biography, ''[http://marcleepson.com/fsk/ What So Proudly We Hailed: Francis Scott Key, A Life] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915135325/http://marcleepson.com/fsk/ |date=September 15, 2017 }}''
* {{Gutenberg author | id=Key,+Francis+Scott | name=Francis Scott Key}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Francis Scott Key}}
* {{Librivox author |id=878}}
* {{Shof|id=191|name=Francis Scott Key}}
* [http://www.usflag.org/history/francisscottkey.html Short biography]
* [http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/k/e/y/f/key_fs.htm Francis Scott Key biography] at Cyber Hymnal
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080517230744/http://www.gwu.edu/gelman/spec/digital/assets/spec_ps2168_n6.pdf Preservation of the Residence of Francis Scott Key], Special Collections Research Center, Estelle and Melvin Gelman Library, The George Washington University. This pamphlet was written by the Columbia Historical Society in an effort to save the Francis Scott Key home from destruction in the 1940s.
* [https://www.c-span.org/video/?165162-1/flag-poet-song ''Booknotes'' interview with Irvin Molotsky on ''The Flag, The Poet and The Song'', September 9, 2001.]
* [https://archive.org/details/FrancisScottKey "Francis Scott Key's OTHER Verse"&nbsp;– selections from Key's other poetry and verse.]

{{War of 1812}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Key, Francis Scott}}
[[Category:Francis Scott Key| ]]
[[Category:1779 births]]
[[Category:1843 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:19th-century American poets]]
[[Category:American Bible Society]]
[[Category:American Episcopalians]]
[[Category:American male poets]]
[[Category:American prosecutors]]
[[Category:Slave owners from Maryland]]
[[Category:American United Brethren in Christ]]
[[Category:Burials at Mount Olivet Cemetery (Frederick, Maryland)]]
[[Category:Key family (Maryland)|Francis Scott]]
[[Category:People from Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)]]
[[Category:Lawyers from Baltimore]]
[[Category:National anthem writers]]
[[Category:People from Carroll County, Maryland]]
[[Category:St. John's College (Annapolis/Santa Fe) alumni]]
[[Category:United States attorneys for the District of Columbia]]
[[Category:The Star-Spangled Banner]]
[[Category:American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law]]
[[Category:People of the American colonization movement]]
[[Category:Lloyd family (Maryland)]]
[[Category:American people of English descent]]