560 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



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 } r ears were consumed in 

 discussions, debates, and conflicting views and schemes, in and out of 

 Congress. 



A few of the prominent facts illustrating this stage of the case will 

 be cited. On the 19th of July, 1838, the Secretary of State, by direc- 

 tion of the President of the United States, addressed letters to a num- 

 ber of the distinguished men of the country thought to be best quali 

 fied to advise on the subject. Answers were received from John 

 Quinc} r Adams; Francis Wayland, D. D., president of Brown Univer- 

 sity; Dr. Thomas Cooper, of Columbia, S. C.; Hon. Richard 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; Presi- 

 dent Wayland a higher university; Dr. Cooper a university, and to 

 escape constitutional objections, to transfer the fund to the corpora- 

 tion of Georgetown; Mr. Rush recommended a more complicated s}'s- 

 tem, for the collection from all countries, through ministers, consuls, 

 and naval and military officers, 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 devel- 

 oped in our institutions, to be particularly discussed; lecturers to be 

 appointed by the President and Senate, with salaries large enough to 

 command the highest talent; a certain number of young men from 

 each State to attend the lectures, their expenses being paid by the 

 Institution, etc. President Chapin was in favor of professorships 

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

 nomical observatory. 



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

 gress recommending an agricultural institution with a large farm, 

 beet-sugar inanufactoiT, mill, workshops, etc. As propositions mul- 

 tiplied, the difficulties in the way became, 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 on the 25th of February, 

 1839. Congress provided for an observatory out of its own funds, and 

 that matter was disposed of and taken out of the question. An Insti- 

 tution like the Garden of Plants at Paris was strongly urged in the 

 Senate, but the proposition did not prevail. In 1845, Mr. Choate pro 

 posed in the Senate the library plan, and it passed that body on the 23d 

 of January. In the House, several members offered different propo 



