Volume 11 — NATIONAL ACADEMY OF LITERATURE AND ART; ALSO OF MORAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCES.

Remarks in the Senate, on a Bill creating these two Academies, July 2, 1864.

June 30th, Mr. Sumner asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to bring in the following bill, which was read the first and second times by unanimous consent, and ordered to be printed.

A Bill to incorporate the National Academy of Literature and Art, and also to incorporate the National Academy of Moral and Political Sciences.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That S. Austin Allibone, Pennsylvania, William C. Bryant, New York, Frederick E. Church, New York, George W. Curtis, New York, Richard H. Dana, Massachusetts, John S. Dwight, Massachusetts, Ralph W. Emerson, Massachusetts, Fitz-Greene Halleck, Connecticut, Oliver W. Holmes, Massachusetts, Henry W. Longfellow, Massachusetts, James R. Lowell, Massachusetts, George P. Marsh, Vermont, Hiram Powers, Ohio, William W. Story, Massachusetts, George Ticknor, Massachusetts, Henry T. Tuckerman, New York, Gulian C. Verplanck, New York, William D. Whitney, Connecticut, John G. Whittier, Massachusetts, Joseph E. Worcester, Massachusetts, their associates and successors, duly chosen, are hereby declared to be a body corporate for the study and cultivation of the ancient and modern languages, letters, and the fine arts, by the name of the National Academy of Literature and Art.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That George Bancroft, New York, Henry Ward Beecher, New York, Horace Binney, Pennsylvania, Robert J. Breckinridge, Kentucky, Edward Everett, Massachusetts, Thomas Ewing, Ohio, Henry W. Halleck, Army of the United States, California, Samuel G. Howe, Massachusetts, Charles King, New York, Francis Lieber, New York, J. Lothrop Motley, Massachusetts, John G. Palfrey, Massachusetts, Wendell Phillips, Massachusetts, Alonzo Potter, Pennsylvania, Josiah Quincy, Massachusetts, Henry B. Smith, New York, Jared Sparks, Massachusetts, Robert J. Walker, District of Columbia, Francis Wayland, Rhode Island, Theodore D. Woolsey, Connecticut, their associates and successors, duly chosen, are hereby declared to be a body corporate for the study and cultivation of history, and the sciences which concern morals and government, by the name of the National Academy of Moral and Political Sciences.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That each of these National Academies shall consist of not more than fifty ordinary members, of whom not more than ten shall be elected in any one year; that nominations shall be made and elections held at the regular annual meeting only, and that no nomination for any kind of membership shall be acted upon until it shall have been before the Academy for one year, and shall have been considered by a committee.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That each of these National Academies shall have power to make its own organization, including its constitution, by-laws, and rules and regulations; to fill all vacancies created by death, resignation, or otherwise; to provide for the election of foreign and domestic members, what number shall be a quorum, the division into classes, and all other matters needful or usual in such institutions, and to report the same to Congress.

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That each of these National Academies shall hold an annual meeting at such place in the United States as may be designated, and, whenever thereto requested by any department of the Government, shall investigate, examine, and report upon any subject within their respective provinces: it being understood that the actual expense thereof, if any, shall be paid from appropriations which may be made for the purpose, but the Academies shall receive no compensation whatever for any services to the Government of the United States.

July 2d, the Senate, on Mr. Sumner’s motion, proceeded to consider this bill. Mr. McDougall, of California, said: “This attempt at aggregating all power in the General Government tends to destroy the positive exercise of the power of local institutions.… The Senator from Massachusetts … undertakes to present this and other conterminous things as a policy, so as to wipe out the lines of the States and make one grand empire. That may be his policy. I have seen it indicated from various quarters. It is revolutionary.… I have not the right to promote such a corporation; he has not the right to promote such a corporation.”

Mr. Sumner replied briefly.

The answer is very simple. I have in my hand the Statutes at Large, containing what was done by the last Congress. Here is “An Act to incorporate the National Academy of Sciences,” approved March 3, 1863, setting forth the names of eminent, not to say illustrious, men of science in our country, and constituting them an Academy of Sciences. It will be remembered that this Academy, during the present winter, met in this Capitol; that one or more of our committee-rooms were set apart for them; and I know that many Senators and gentlemen of the other House took great interest in their meetings. This Academy is devoted to the cultivation of the sciences properly so called.

Mr. McDougall. Will the Senator permit me to interrupt him?

Mr. Sumner. Certainly.

Mr. McDougall. There may be some questions about which the Senator and myself may not understand each other exactly. Of course we have the right to incorporate an institution in the District of Columbia, that is local to the District, by virtue of our general powers of legislation over it; but that is not within the sphere of this legislation, as I understand.

Mr. Sumner. The Act of Congress to which I refer is general in terms; it is not limited to the District; it is a national act to create a National Academy: and the bill before the Senate simply proposes to apply the same principle to gentlemen engaged in the cultivation of literature and art, also to gentlemen engaged in the cultivation of history and those sciences which are connected with morals and government. In the designation of the two academies I have respected the example of France, which is the country that has most excelled in academies of this kind. I believe the Act of Congress is sufficient as a precedent. I do not think there can be any just constitutional objection; and I am sure that the association, if once organized, would give opportunities of activity and of influence important to the literature of the country. I hope there will be no question about it.

Mr. Doolittle, of Wisconsin, wished to call up a bill from the House of Representatives, relating to certain half-breeds of the Winnebago Indians. “There is no chance of the pending bill passing the House of Representatives. What, then, is the use of taking up time with it here?” Mr. Morrill, of Maine, wished to introduce a bill to provide for the Washington aqueduct. Mr. Hale, of New Hampshire, thought that “at this stage of the session it was a little too late to be engaged in making a close corporation of mutual admirers,” and he moved to take up a bill providing for the education of naval constructors and steam-engineers. The last motion prevailed.