"The Star-Spangled Banner," Francis Scott Key's famed song that went on to become the United States' national anthem ... and are inherited from the British flag. However, PBS reports that ...

Francis Scott Key awoke aboard a British ... actual flag raised over Fort McHenry by the dawn’s early light on Sept. 14 enjoys a place of honor today at the National Museum of American History ...

but any American flag." After the War of 1812, the flag and the words it inspired became a sensation. Key's poem was quickly set to a popular — and ironically British — tune and was soon ...

So, on June 14, 1777, 11 months and 10 days after Congress declared independence from the British crown, the first Flag Act was passed: “Resolved, that the flag of the thirteen United States be ...