America's Star-Spangled Story

By Jane Hampton Cook

O Say Can You See?

Georgetown lawyer Francis Scott Key did not initially support the War of 1812 against Great Britain. After all, he voted against President James Madison and his war. Instead, Key supported the Federalist Party. But after the notorious British military burned the White House and Capito

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wheelhouse Lit Valor & Virtue Gift Books
• Release date: Jul 4, 2023
• ISBN: 9798988092674

Jane Hampton Cook

Jane Hampton Cook's passion is igniting patriotism and making American history relevant to modern life, news, current events, politics and faith. She is an award-winning screenwriter and author of 13 books, including War of Lies: When George Washington Was the Target & Propaganda Was the Crime and Stories of Faith & Courage from the Revolutionary War. She has written award-winning screenplay adaptations for two of her books. SAVING WASHINGTON placed third in ScreenCraft's drama 2018 screenwriting competition and AMERICAN PHOENIX was a top ten winner in ISA's Emerging Screenwriters contest in 2020. A national media commentator and former White House webmaster, Jane has been a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel, SKY News, C-SPAN, BBC, CD Media, WMAL, and other outlets. She has been a cast member and an on-camera storyteller for several documentaries, including Fox Nation's WHAT MADE AMERICA GREAT hosted by Brian Kilmeade, and THE FIRST AMERICAN, a film about George Washington produced by Gingrich Productions. Jane received a bachelor's degree from Baylor University and a master's degree from Texas A&M University. Jane lives with her husband and their sons in Centreville, Virginia. www.janecook.com.

Book preview

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America’s Star-Spangled Story

Jane Hampton Cook

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Valor & Virtue Gift Books

Copyright © 2014 Jane Hampton Cook

All rights reserved.

No endorsements implied by US government and other photographers.

ISBN-13: 979-8-9880926-7-4

Contents

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1. O Say Can You See

2. By the Dawn’s Early Light

3. What So Proudly We Hailed

4. At the Twilight’s Last Gleaming

5. Whose Broad Stripes

6. And Bright Stars

7. Through the Perilous Fight

8. O’er the Ramparts We Watched

9. Were So Gallantly Streaming

10. And the Rockets’ Red Glare

11. The Bombs Bursting in Air

12. Gave Proof through the Night

13. That Our Flag Was Still There

14. O Say, Does that Star-Spangled Banner Yet Wave

15. O’er the Land of the Free

16. And the Home of the Brave

17. Lyrics to The Star-Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key

18. Bibliography Star-Spangled Sailabration, Baltimore, June 2012 © Jane Hampton Cook

There is a secret in life . . . . We all have a great hand in the forming of our own destiny. Dolley Madison

— 1 —

O Say Can You See

What comes to mind when you think of the United States of America and the national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner? Do you see what the song’s lyricist, Francis Scott Key, saw? Or do you see something else on the mural of your patriotic mind? Do you see only the battlefields? Or do you also see the blessings along America’s freedom timeline?

What did the Pilgrims see when their buckled boots clicked and clacked onto Plymouth’s rocky shores? Using a spyglass of hope, they saw a land of fertile seed and a place to worship as they pleased. Borrowing from the language of a native tribe, the great hills—massawachusett—became a colony, chartered for the English king.

Others who settled farther south also saw future cities on hills. They named sapphire rivers and emerald forests for kings and queens of yore, such as Mary-land, Georg-ia, and Virgin-ia, after the virgin Queen Elizabeth. Ultimately these settlers gave birth to thirteen new distinct places.

A century and a half later in 1776, their descendents saw something different in their overseas monarchs. They saw royalty without representation. Dependence, not independence. Acts of tyranny enough to fill a declaration. They saw humanity’s rights as natural. Intrinsic. Gifts of God and not of