Francis Scott Key Trivia Quiz

Answer: Red earth

Terra Rubra is a historic home that the National Register of Historic Places listed in 1978, located near Keysville, Maryland. In addition to being the birth site Francis Scott Key, it is an excellent example of the Federalist style. It was built in the 1850s to replace the orginal residence that had become badly deteriorated. The original house was built in the 1770s by Francis Key for his son John.

Answer: St. Johns (Annapolis)

Key atttended St. Johns and apprenticed as lawyer under his uncle Philip Barton Key. Law was the centerpiece of Key's professional career.

Answer: To negotiate the release of prisoners

His friend Dr. William Beanes had been retained by the British, mostly for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was accompained by Colonel John Stuart Skinner who was in charge of prisoner negotations for supper with British officers. Other prisoners names were involved.

As the evening grew late, Key was not allowed to leave the ship due to his observation of British military placements.

Answer: Defense of Fort McHenry

Key published the poem in "The Patriot" on September 20, 1814. He intended to match the rhythm of a beer drinking song called "To Anacreon in Heaven" that he had been previously adapted in 1805 as a military marching song "When the Warrior Returns". As time passed it became known as "The Stars-Spangled Banner".

Answer: 1931

A 1916 Executive Order from President Woodrow Wilson mandated it for military bands but had little effect elsewhere. A 1931 Congressional Resolution was signed by President Herbert Hoover formally made it the national amthem.

Answer: Pro-slavery activist

Key was appointed United States District Attoney for the Washington D.C. area in 1831 and served until 1843. During this time he took a hard stance against abolitionists movements. Key was a slave holder himself and his plantation, Terra Rubra, relied heavily on slaves. He treated his slaves well and did free seven of them over the years, but in his will he left all slaves to his wife. He once said in a court issue over slavery "They declare that every law which sanctions slavery is null and void ... that we have no more rights over our slaves than they have over us. Does not this bring the constitution and the laws under which we live into contempt? Is it not a plain invitation to resist them?"

Things to think about when you hear "Land of the free and home of the brave".

Answer: Assault

Houston, as a special agent of Andrew Jackson, came to report issues of fraud perpetrated by Indian agents upon the Cherokee tribe. He had a confrontation with anti-Jacksonian Congressman William Stanbery of Ohio who had made speeches in Congress accusing Houston of fraud.

In 1832 Houston met Stanbury on the street and beat him with a hickory cane. Stanbury tried to shoot Houston but his pistol misfired. In the trial before Congress, Key advised Houston to plead self-defense. The Congress found him guilty but the Jackson adminstration ignored the verdict.

Answer: Attempted assassination

Richard Lawrence was an English emigrant who worked as a house painter in Washington D.C. He had been observed to have had a personality change by those who knew him. While President Andrew Jackson was exiting a funeral, Lawrence approached him and his pistol misfired. A second gun did the same. Jackson then beat Lawrence with his cane until help arrived. The assault was significant in that this was the first recorded time that an American president was the target of an assassin.

The plea was 'not guilty by reason of insanity' which was accepted within five minutes by Key and the government. Lawrence was whisked off to a mental intitution until his death in 1861.

Answer: American Bible Society

American Bible Society is "an interconfessional, non-denominational, nonprofit organization, founded in 1816 which publishes, distributes, and translates the Bible and provides study aids and other tools to help people engage with the Bible." A number of distiguished persons have served as president but Francis Scott Key's long service as vice-president give the organization stabilty and continuity in its early years.

Answer: Brother-in-law

Anne Phoebe Charlton Key married Roger Taney in 1806 and they had seven children together. As a consequence, Key and Taney established a law partnership until both became embroiled in Jacksonian politics. Key and Taney had similar views on abolition, but Taney chose to free his slaves while Key did not. Taney will be remebered for the Dred Scott decision that underscored the status of slaves as property.