Key’s song “The Star-Spangled Banner” did more than give the American flag a name; it changed the way Americans looked at their flag. In the early 1800s, Americans, like people in other countries, considered a national flag simply a military or naval emblem. Like the bald eagle or Lady Liberty, it was one of many symbols used to represent the new nation. But as the nation matured, Americans used the flag more and more to express their understanding of what the United States stood for. For many people today, the flag embodies the nation’s founding ideals – liberty, democracy, and equality. Although there are other patriotic symbols, the flag stands above them all.  Flag sheets like this one, published by George Frederic Lotter in Augsburg, Germany, in 1793, were used by port officials to identify the nationalities of ships entering their waters.  In the 1840s, political parties began to use flag images to associate their candidates with patriotism. This "K.N. Quick Step" sheet music touted the self-professed patriotism of the Know-Nothing Party. It was printed by Winner and Shuster in New York in 1854.  When the Whig Party held their 1844 convention in Baltimore, Lieutenant Colonel Armistead's family lent the Star-Spangled Banner for use as part of the patriotic decorations that decked the city's streets. The pamphlet describing the convention itself featured patriotic emblems.  During the Civil War, Northern supporters conveyed their patriotic zeal with images of the American flag. Patriotic envelopes with flag designs were especially popular.  Back to top National Postal Museum, Smithsonian Institution Early American patriotic symbols included eagles, George Washington, and a red peaked headpiece called a "Liberty Cap."