Francis Scott Key

Francis Scott Key (August 1, 1779 - January 11, 1843) was an American lawyer and poet. He is best known for writing a poem which later became the words of "The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the United States of America. Key was inspired to write it after he saw the British bombardment of Baltimore in 1814. During the war he was jailed by the British in Washington.    

His mother was Ann Phoebe Penn Dagworthy (Charlton) and his father was Captain John Ross Key. He graduated from St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland in 1796.   

Key became a leader of the American Colonization Society that created Liberia and freed a few if his own slaves. In the administration of Andrew Jackson he was the United States Attorney in Washington, D.C.He resigned as District Attorney in 1840. He kept his belief in the system of African colonization (slavery) and a strongly disagreed with it being taken apart (abolition) movement until his death.

Crandall died shortly after his acquittal, at the age of 63. At the Washington jail he developed pneumonia. He died of pleurisy at his daughters home.

 Related pages 
List of poets from North America
List of poets from the United States

References

Category:1779 births
Category:1843 deaths
Category:19th-century American poets
Category:Writers from Maryland