and then served as the Institute's first president. 4 It was 

 Thomas Law, however, a leader in the intellectual life of the 

 new capital city, who actually suggested the formation of 

 such an organization. 



The organizational plan approved by Cutbush, Law, and 

 the other eighty-seven founding members of the Metropoli- 

 tan Society called for the group to collect, cultivate, and dis- 

 tribute the various vegetable products of this country, as well 

 as other nations, and to accumulate a collection of minerals 

 found throughout the world. From the outset, the Society 

 contemplated asking Congress if it might use two hundred 

 acres on the mall to cultivate the plants it hoped to collect. 



To accomplish this goal, the Society on June 28, 1816, 

 selected a committee to draft a constitution. By early August, 

 a constitution greatly expanding the organization's objectives 

 had been agreed upon, and the name of the Society at that 

 time was changed to the Columbian Institute for the Pro- 

 motion of Arts and Sciences. 5 



Objectives of the Institute 



The Institute's constitution contained several broad 

 objectives: 



Art. 1. The association shall be denominated the 

 "Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts 

 and Sciences"; and shall be composed of resident 

 and honorary members. 



Art. 2. The objects of the Institute shall be to collect, cul- 

 tivate and distribute the various vegetable produc- 

 tions of this and other countries, whether 

 medicinal, esculent, or for the promotion of arts 

 and manufactures. 



Art. 3. To collect and examine the various mineral 

 productions and natural curiosities of the 



4 Rathbun, The Columbian Institute, p. 20. Subsequently Josiah Meigs, 

 John Quincy Adams, John C Calhoun, and Mahlon Dickerson served 

 as presidents of the Institute. Ibid., p. 32. 



5 Ibid., pp. 10-11, 20; and Harold T. Pinkett, Early Agricultural 

 Societies in the District of Columbia. Records of the Columbia Historical 

 Society, 51-52, p. 39. 



2 



