JOINT RESOLUTIONS.

NO. 1.

REQUESTING the Congress of the United States to repeal
the Act approved May 26, 1914 (38 Stat. 382) and all simi-
lar legislation, if any, whereby permission was granted to
the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore to establish a
park upon the Fort McHenry military reservation at the
port of Baltimore subject to the right of the United States
Government at any time to retake possession of said res-
ervation and any improvements which might be placed
thereon by the City of Baltimore; and requesting Congress
to expressly declare that the Port MJcHenry military res-
ervation ought to be retained permanently by the United
States Government and preserved and maintained by it
as a national park for the purpose of coinfmemorating the
part played by the old Fort in the defense of the United
States in the War of 1812.

WHEREAS, the first of September, 1814, saw the City of Wash-
ington burned, the handful of American warships driven to port
by force of superior numbers, the Atlantic Ooast from Maine to
Louisiana open to attack, and the fate of the Union in the bal-
ance, and that then Fort McHenry stood firm against the in-
vader, redeemed our eastern seaboard and delivered the Federal
Government from disaster or ruin;

WHEREAS, great as were the services which Fort McHenry
rendered, our Government, now the most powerful in the world,
has done little to commemorate the spot which inspired "The
Star-Spangled Banner,"—a spot which not only rescued the
Republic in an hour of grave difficulty, but brought the war
with Britain to a close and ushered in a century of peace;

WHEREAS, the time has come for our Federal Government
to show an active interest in the fact that Port McHenry marks
the spot where a decisive blow in the War of 1812 was struck;
where Francis Scott Key was inspired to write America's na-
tional anthem—"The Star-Spangled Banner,";