On September 12, 1814, the United Kingdom began an invasion of the American city of Baltimore, Maryland. For the next four days, the two sides battled for control of the port city, with the Americans ultimately winning and forcing the British to withdraw. The Battle of Baltimore, as the event would later be known, isn't much discussed in American history classes today, but almost every American knows the details of one part of the battle. On September 14th, an amateur poet named Francis Scott Key was present for the bombardment of Baltimore's Fort McHenry, and he wrote a poem recounting the defense of the fort. Today, his poem serves as the lyrics for the Star Spangled Banner, the national anthem of the United States.

In June of 2010, Maryland decided to honor the bicentennial of the poem. In anticipation of that round-numbered anniversary, they issued the license plate above. The plate specifically mentions the War of 1812, shows a historically accurate flag over a building representing Fort McHenry, and bombs bursting in air. And there's also a URL, pointing to www.StarSpangled200.org. It was, as you'd expect, an official website from the state of Maryland about the War of 1812 and the upcoming bicentennial, as archived here and seen below.