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.

Francis Scott Key

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.