592 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



rangement to avoid them. It is clearly not within the 

 sphere allotted to this Federal Government to enter the 

 fields of science and literature. In point of fact, the action 

 of Congress in accepting the bequest, and agreeing to carry 

 it into execution, was justified at the time on the ground of 

 its peculiar and complete jurisdiction over the District of 

 Columbia. More than ten years were consumed in discus- 

 sions, debates, and conflicting views and schemes, in and out 

 of Congress. 



A few of the prominent fiicts illustrating this stage of the 

 case will be cited. On the 19th of July, 1838, the Secretary 

 of State, by direction of the President of the United States, 

 addressed letters to a number of the distinguished men of 

 the country thought to be best qualified to advise on the 

 subject. Answers were received from John Quincy Adams; 

 Francis Wa^^land, D.D., president of Brown University; Dr. 

 Thomas Cooper, of Columbia, South Carolina; Hon. Rich- 

 ard Rush ; and President Chapin. The diversity of views 

 which must ever be expected in reference to such a subject, 

 was revealed, in all its extent, at the very outset. Mr. 

 Adams recommended an observatory ; President Wayland 

 a higher university; Dr. Cooper a university, and, to escape 

 constitutional objections, to transfer the fund to the corpor- 

 ation of Georgetown; Mr. Rush recommended a more com- 

 plicated system, for the collection from all countries, through 

 ministers, consuls, and naval and military oflicers, of seeds 

 and plants, objects of natural history and antiquities; a 

 standing board of the chief officers of the Government; the 

 institution to have a printing press; the board to determine 

 what should be printed; the democratic principle, as de- 

 veloped in our institutions, to be particularly discussed; lec- 

 turers to be appointed by the President and Senate, with 

 salaries large enough to command the highest talent; a cer- 

 tain number of young men from each State to attend the 

 lectures, their expenses being paid by the institution, &c. 

 President Chapin was in favor of professorships being estab- 

 lished on a liberal scale; a library, apparatus, and an astro- 

 nomical observatory. 



On the 14th of December, 1838, a memorial was presented 

 to Congress recommending an agricultural institution, with 

 a large farm, beet-sugar manufactory, mill, workshops, &c. 

 As propositions multiplied, the difiiculties in the way be- 

 came, at each step, and in view of every scheme, more and 

 more apparent. 



In January, 1839, Congress began to grapple with the 

 subject. The university plan was defeated in the Senate 



