What was the first official national anthem of the United States?

“The Star-Spangled Banner” became the first official national anthem of the United States.

Congress designated the song as the national anthem on March 3, 1931, and President Herbert Hoover signed the law. The lyrics were written by Francis Scott Key in 1814 after he witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. The poem was originally titled “Defence of Fort M'Henry.”

Key’s words were later set to the melody of “Anacreon in Heaven,” an English song associated with the Anacreontic Society. That tune had already circulated widely in the United States before it became linked with Key’s poem.

The song had been used ceremonially for decades before official adoption. Its status is sometimes confused with earlier patriotic songs such as “Hail, Columbia” and “My Country, ’Tis of Thee,” but none of those was the nation’s legally designated anthem.