26 The Smithsonian Institution 



The proposed gift of Smithson was first publicly announced 

 by President Jackson in a message to Congress, dated De- 

 cember 17, 1835. 



The President's message was referred in the Senate to the 

 Committee on the Judiciary, which promptly reported in favor 

 of accepting the legacy. Its recommendations were strongly 

 antagonized by Senators Calhoun and Preston, of South 

 Carolina, who, from their customary standpoint of opposition 

 to centralization, maintained that Congress had no power to 

 accept the gift, and that it would be beneath the dignity of 

 the Nation to receive benefits from a foreigner. Senator 

 Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, and Senator Leigh, of Vir- 

 ginia, took strong ground on the other side, and their counsel 

 finally prevailed after the report had lain upon the table 

 for several months. 



In the House of Representatives the announcement was 

 received with more generous appreciation, and the message 

 was referred to a select committee, of which John Quincy 

 Adams was made chairman. The venerable statesman, now, 

 ten years after his retirement from the presidency, a Repre- 

 sentative in Congress from Massachusetts, at once took the 

 measure under his protection. His mind seized with almost 

 prophetic grasp upon the advances which the gift of Smithson 

 made possible, and the arguments so eloquently presented in 

 his report of January 19, 1836, no doubt did much to deter- 

 mine Congress upon the decision that the gift should be 

 accepted : 



" Of all the foundations of establishments for pious or char- 

 itable uses which ever signalized the spirit of the age or the 

 comprehensive beneficence of the founder, none can be named 



tion : Documents relative to its Origin and archives of the Institution and of the govern- 



History," edited by W. J. Rhees, Washing- ment, provided with an excellent analytical 



ton, 1879, 8vo, pages i-xiv, 1-1013, a most index. It also contains an abstract from the 



careful and exhaustive compilation from the diary of John Quincy Adams. 



