All available claims trace the anthem's melody to 'To Anacreon in Heaven,' the constitutional song of London's Anacreontic Society, a gentlemen's club active by 1780. Francis Scott Key wrote new lyrics to the tune on September 14, 1814, while observing the British attack on Fort McHenry. Multiple earlier sets of lyrics, including 'Adams and Liberty' by 1798, had already been adapted to the same melody.