John Quincy Adams, the Smithsonian Bequest and the Founding of the U.S. Naval Observatory

Abstract

The founding of the U. S. Naval Observatory in Washington, DC, is a classic example of the role of competing political interests in early American science. President John Quincy Adams had called for a national observatory as early as 1825, but Congressional ridicule delayed action for almost two decades. The quest for such an observatory can only be understood in the context of Congressional politics, hostility toward Adams stemming from the election of 1824, the concurrent debate over the bequest of James Smithson, arguments for a National Institute for the Promotion of Science, and naval officers who promoted the practical benefits for such an observatory. In the end a small Depot of Charts and Instruments, founded to aid navigation, became not only a naval but also a national observatory, part of a national observatory movement taking place around the world.