Francis Scott Key

Maryland Historical Society

Poet, lawyer, district attorney, ardent Episcopalian, and anti-slavery advocate, Francis Scott Key is remembered as the author of the "Star-Spangled Banner," the national anthem of the United States. Key was a descendant of the Maryland Federalist elite of the colonial period and moved in elevated political circles for most of his life. During the War of 1812, Key suffered the rigors of battle first hand as a member of the District of Columbia militia and there found inspiration for his famous work. Key was successful in the legal field arguing cases before the Supreme Court and was appointed three times United States District Attorney for the District of Columbia.

Family History
Francis Scott Key was born on August 1, 1779, in Frederick Maryland to John Ross Key (1754-1821) and Anne Phoebe Penn Dagworthy Charlton (1756-1830). His father was a successful planter who served under George Washington in the Revolutionary War. Key was much impressed by General Washington, who visited his father's estate to acknowledge and thank veterans from Frederick. He spent much of his youth living with relatives and attending school and college in Annapolis. Key graduated from St. John's College and began to practice law in Frederick in 1801. During school Key became life-long friends with one of his fellow students, Roger Brooke Taney, future Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, who later married Key's only sister, Anne Phoebe Charlton Key (1783-1855).

While in Annapolis he fell in love with one of the belles of the town, Mary Tayloe Lloyd (1784-1859) of the Lloyds of Wye House. She was the granddaughter of Edward Lloyd, royal governor of the Maryland colony in the second decade of the eighteenth century and sister to Edward Lloyd V, thirteenth governor of the Maryland colony. The two were married in Annapolis on January 9, 1802. Together they had eleven children, including Elizabeth Phoebe (1803-1897), Maria Lloyd (1805-1897), Francis Scott (1806-1866), John Ross (1809-1837), Anna Arnold (1811-1884), Edward Lloyd (1813-1822), Daniel Murray (1816-1836), Phillip Barton Key (1818-1859), Ellen Lloyd (1823-1884), Mary Alicia Lloyd Nevins (1823-1886) and Charles Henry (1827-1869).

The Key family soon removed to Georgetown where Francis Scott Key began a law practice with his uncle Philip Barton Key. Despite having fought for the British during the American Revolutionary War, Philip Barton Key was a successful politician and served in the U.S. House of Representatives. With his uncle's connections, Francis Scott Key soon established a successful legal practice. Under Presidents Jackson and Van Buren he served as district attorney of Washington DC, being confirmed on January 29, 1833, and serving until July 3, 1841.

War of 1812
As a committed Federalist, Key opposed the War of 1812 against Great Britain and thought the invasion of Canada was a foolhardy venture. When the British navy brought the war home to the Chesapeake region with attacks across tidewater Maryland, Key joined the District of Columbia volunteer militia. His unit was a "flying battery" of horse-drawn artillery commanded by veteran officer Major George Peter of Georgetown. The artillery was mustered to defend the district from July 15 to July 26 in response to a British foray up the Potomac River. Along with Key, the unit boasted many notables from Georgetown, including financier George Peabody. In 1814 Key was promoted from Matross to Lieutenant Quartermaster of the unit and served again from June 19 to July 1 defending the Patuxent River following the first Battle of St. Leonard's Creek and supporting Commodore Joshua Barney's flotilla.

The role Key played in the Battle of Bladensburg remains controversial, but it is clear that he was not mustered into his unit and yet was acting in a semi-official capacity. There is evidence to support the contention that he was an aide-de-camp of General Walter Smith, the newly promoted head of the militia. Key witnessed the destruction of the Capitol and other federal buildings from the heights above Georgetown and returned home after the British withdrawal on August 25, 1814. Key most likely was involved with the subsequent building of defensive works in response to the arrival of the British fleet at Alexandria within sight of his home in Georgetown. No sooner had this threat sailed off down the Potomac than he was enlisted to undertake a mission to secure the release of Dr. William Beanes, taken prisoner by the British army. Key met with the British fleet, helped secure the release of Dr. Beanes, and witnessed the combined land and sea assault on the city of Baltimore. To celebrate the successful defense of Fort McHenry, he wrote a poem that would soon be remembered as the "Star-Spangled Banner" and become the national anthem of his country.

Poetry
Francis Scott Key was an amateur poet and his works were published by his grandson after his death. The popularity of the "Star-Spangled Banner" in combination with his reputation as an orator brought him many requests to speak publicly after the war. He was also asked to write the epitaphs for a number of grave markers-a lasting tribute to his poetic ability.

Slavery
As a slave owner and an advocate for a solution to slavery, Key was in the middle of a contentious issue during a period of re-evaluating the benefits and costs of human bondage. As a lawyer, Key was involved in a number of slave cases on both sides of the issue. He represented slave owners in their battles over property rights and also advocated, without pay, for free blacks who unjustly were being sold back into slavery. Key joined the growing colonization movement that sought to establish African colonies where American slaves and free blacks could form an enlightened black republic. In December 1816, Key was on the committee that wrote the constitution of the American Colonization Society and later became a member of its board of managers. In early 1819, Key was chosen as one of thirteen collections agents who were tasked with trying to raise money to pay for the cost of starting the colony. Key called it "the begging business" and solicited money as a part of his travels. He remained involved in the colonization society for more than twenty-five years, advocating for development of Africa, the suppression of the slave trade and the use of American military resources to protect the new black colonies. Despite his advocacy for the colonization movement, he opposed abolitionists and as district attorney of Washington, DC, went so far as to prosecute an abolitionist "agitator." Nonetheless he emancipated his own slaves and maintained his free black servant, Clem, his entire life.

Religion
Raised in the Episcopal Church, Key was a religious man who abstained from excess and lived a pious life. He insisted on conducting family prayers twice a day and church attendance for everyone in his household, including the slaves. He attributed calamities to the wrath of God and believed in the unseen hand of the Lord at work to chastise the wicked and reward the worthy. Key served as both vestryman and lay reader in his church and was chosen to represent his diocese at the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1817. Although one of the younger delegates at age 38, Key took the floor and spoke numerous times.

While visiting his daughter Elizabeth Phoebe [Key] Howard in Baltimore, Francis Scott Key fell ill with a cold and died of pleurisy complicated by pneumonia at her Mount Vernon place home on January 11, 1843. He is remembered in four national monuments

Delaplaine, Edward S. Francis Scott Key Life and Times. New York: The Biography Press, 1937.

Key-Smith, Francis S. Francis Scott Key. Washington, D.C.: Key-Smith and Co., 1911.

______. The Star Spangled Banner: What Else He Was and Who. Washington: Key-Smith and Co., 1911.

Key, Francis S. Poems of the Late Francis Scott Key, Esq. . New York: Robert Carter Brothers, 1857.

Weybright, Victor. Spangled Banner: The Story of Francis Scott Key. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1935.