Noting that textbooks for grades 3 through 8 often exclude the War of 1812, the Smithsonian’s History Explorer website designed this lesson to teach students about the origins and outcomes of this pivotal event in American history. This lesson also provides students with historical context for understanding one of the most popular and enduring texts in American history: "The Star-Spangled Banner," written by Francis Scott Key.

The strength of this lesson is that it provides a succinct, yet informative, narrative of the causes, course, and consequences of the War of 1812. This overview, which examines the origins of the national anthem, could be used as a basis for a lecture or directly given to students as a handout.

The discussion questions at the end of the narrative focus on the American and British motives for going to war and the importance of Washington, DC in the war. While these questions summarize important content, we recommend that teachers use the information from this lesson to help students analyze "The Star-Spangled Banner" as an historical text. For that purpose, the lesson contains several links to both background information and resources pertaining to both the anthem and the flag. (Note that this interactive feature also helps students understand the nature of historic preservation.)

This lesson provides such rich contextual information about the War of 1812 and about Francis Scott Key that we recommend modifying it and using it to inquire about the origins of "The Star-Spangled Banner" as it relates to the War of 1812.