(November 15, 1777), proposed by the Continental Congress, constituted the government in America prior to the writing of the United States Constitution. It was signed July 9, 1778, and finally ratified by the states March 1, 1781:
Preamble. Whereas the delegates of the United States of America in Congress assembled did on the fifteenth day of November in the Year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy seven, and in the second year of the independence of America agree on certain Articles of Confederation and perpetual union between the States … 1762
Article I. The style of this confederation shall be “The United States of America.”
Article II. Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction and right, which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the united states, in Congress assembled.
Article III. The said states hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other, against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense. … 1763
And whereas it has pleased the Great Governor of the World to incline the hearts of the Legislatures we respectively represent in Congress, to approve of, and to authorize us to ratify the said Articles of Confederation and perpetual union.1764
In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands in Congress. Done at Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania the ninth day of July in the Year of Our Lord, 1778, and in the third year of the independence of America.1765
Key, Francis Scott (August 1, 1779–January 11, 1843), was an American lawyer and poet. He was on a diplomatic mission from Washington, D.C., to free a popular American doctor held captive aboard the British flagship in Chesapeake Bay. On the fateful night of September 14, 1814, the ship Francis Scott Key was aboard was commandeered by the British, and he was forced to watch as the British unmercifully bombarded the U.S. Fort McHenry. As the smoke of the night passed and the morning light dawned, Key saw “Old Glory” still waving. So inspired was he that he penned The Star Spangled Banner, later adding the music from the old hymn “To Anacreon in Heaven.” Within weeks it was being sung all over the country, and on March 3, 1931, by official act of Congress (36 U.S.C. Sec.170),1766 it became the National Anthem of the United States. The fourth verse is as follows:
O! thus be it ever when free men shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation;
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just;
And this be our motto, “In God is our trust!”
And the star spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!1767
As a poet, Frances Scott Key also expressed an unusual depth:
Praise for Pardoning Grace
Lord, with glowing heart I’d praise Thee
For the bliss Thy love bestows;
For the pardoning grace that saves me,
And the peace that from it flows.
Help, O God, my weak endeavor,
This dull soul to rapture raise;
Thou must light the flame, or never
Can my love be warmed to praise.1768
On February 22, 1812, to the Washington Society of Alexandria, Francis Scott Key stated:
The patriot who feels himself in the service of God, who acknowledges Him in all his ways, has the promise of Almighty direction, and will find His Word in his greatest darkness, ‘a lantern to his feet and a lamp unto his paths’. … He will therefore seek to establish for his country in the eyes of the world, such a character as shall make her not unworthy of the name of a Christian nation.1769