>From Marxmail: Patriotic Ballad Uncut and Wet Mark L
Actually, the story behind the "Star-Spangled Banner" (originally "the Defense of Fort McHenry") is amazing and interesting enough. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star-Spangled_Banner The War of 1812 started as an attempt by the politicians and expansionists to seize new territory while England was busy fighting Napoleon. In short order, Napoleon was out of the picture and the wrath of the most powerful empire in history (to that point) turned on the United States, which realized at about that time that it had this massive coastline that simply couldn't be defended and a war that the population in much of the country had really not been behind. Americans responded with a popular effort to do what they could. In New York, hundreds volunteered, trade by trade, to put makeshift fortifications into place. The famous poet (and union printer) Samuel Woodward celebrated the work of "Plumbers, founders, dyers, tinmen, turners shavers, Sweepers, clerks and criers, jewelers and engravers. Clothiers, drapers, players, cartmen, hatters, tailors Gaugers, sealers, weighers, carpenters and sailors!" All laboring as "The Patriotic Diggers." http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiPATRDIGG;ttPATRDIGG.html Once the British were focused, they found that they could land their well-trained veteran troops almost anywhere and move pretty much with impunity through the American countryside. Most famously, on August 24, 1814, they entered and burned much of Washington, DC, before there was really that much there, of course. The British moved on Baltimore September 12-15, and the population mobilized to defend their city. Trade unionists and African-Americans took up arms to protect their homes, alongside the property owners. When the British landed 5,000 men at North Point to march on the city from the rear, some of the militia ventured out from their works to meet them in a sharp engagement that resulted in the death of the British commander and the blunting of their attack. On September 13-14, the British fleet tried from the other direction, using mortar boats and their new Congreve rockets in an attempt to take Fort McHenry. It was this overnight bombardment that inspired Francis Scott Key, watching from a British ship, to write the poem. The interesting aftermath was that when Key went into Baltimore to find a printer to put his poem into circulation, he couldn't find anyone available. (He eventually found a young apprentice who did the work. All the journeymen from the Typographical Union were out on the barricades ready to meet the British if they made another attempt. Finally, another endearing aspect of the national anthem is that it was put to a drinking tune. For an entertaining presentation of the original (probably as a school project) on YouTube, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5JZXTb5ABg&feature=related ML This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
