With few national institutions on which to model their thinking, many Americans built their plans for the Smithsonian around the notion of a national university.

National Intelligencer , October 16, 1835

National Intelligencer Enlargement

The debate moved quickly from, Should we create a national university? to What kind of a national university should we create?

"An institution for liberal and professional purposes, and for the promotion of original investigations?"

—Steven Chapin

Columbian College Enlargement

Steven Chapin, the president of Washington's Columbian College (now The George Washington University), advocated an institute of higher learning that would complement--but not compete with--his struggling young college.

Better Living through Science?

Thomas Cooper, an English-born physician and president of South Carolina College who was known for his radical political views, advocated a school that could help to improve social conditions through practical advances in science.

Thomas Cooper Enlargement

"I object to all belles-lettres, and philosophical literature, as calculated only to make men pleasant talkers. I object to medicine. . . . I object to law. . . . Ethics and politics are as yet unsettled branches of knowledge."

-Letter from Thomas Cooper, president of South Carolina College, to Secretary of State John Forsyth, July 20, 1838

A Teacher's Training Institute?

Robert Dale Owen Enlargement

Representative Robert Dale Owen of Indiana, who was influenced by his father, Robert Owen, founder of the utopian community at New Harmony, Indiana, spoke out for free public education. Owen introduced a bill that provided for a school to train teachers in natural science and

New Harmony, Indiana Enlargement

primary education
and to promote agricultural and chemical research.

A Place to Teach Natural History?

University of Virginia Enlargement

A professor at the University of Virginia, Robley Dunglison, wanted the bequest to be used for a school of natural history that would advance sciences of the type that interested Smithson, such as chemistry, geology, and mineralogy.

Francis Wayland Enlargement

A University for the Classics?

Brown University Enlargement

Believing that societies often misused science and technology for military and other destructive purposes, Francis Wayland, the president of Brown University, suggested an institution that would teach only the classics.

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