Upon this first occasion of addressing the Legislature of the Union,
with which I have been honored, in presenting to their view the
execution so far as it has been effected of the measures sanctioned by
them for promoting the internal improvement of our country, I can not
close the communication without recommending to their calm and
persevering consideration the general principle in a more enlarged
extent....
Among the first, perhaps the very first, instrument for the
improvement of the conditions of men is knowledge, and to the
acquisition of much of the knowledge adapted to the wants, the
comforts, and enjoyments of human life public institutions and
seminaries of learning are essential. So convinced of this was the
first of my predecessors in this office [_George Washington_], now
first in the memory, as, living, he was first in the hearts, of our
countrymen, that once and again in his addresses to the Congresses
with whom he co-operated in the public service he earnestly
recommended the establishment of seminaries of learning, to prepare
for all the emergencies of peace and war—a national university and a
military academy. With respect to the latter, had he lived to the
present day, in turning his eyes to the institution at West Point he
would have enjoyed the gratification of his most earnest wishes; but
in surveying the city which has been honored with his name he would
have seen the spot of earth which he had destined and bequeathed to
the use and benefit of his country as the site for an university still
bare and barren.
In assuming her station among the civilized nations of the earth it
would seem that our country had contracted the engagement to
contribute her share of mind, of labor, and of expense to the
improvement of those parts of knowledge which lie beyond the reach of
individual acquisition, and particularly to geographical and
astronomical science. Looking back to the history only of the half
century since the declaration of our independence, and observing the
generous emulation with which the Governments of France, Great
Britain, and Russia have devoted the genius, the intelligence, the
treasures of their respective nations to the common improvement of the
species in these branches of science, is it not incumbent upon us to
inquire whether we are not bound by obligations of a high and
honorable character to contribute our portion of energy and exertion
to the common stock?...
In inviting the attention of Congress to the subject of internal
improvements upon a view thus enlarged it is not my design to
recommend the equipment of an expedition for circumnavigating the
globe for purposes of scientific research and inquiry. We have objects
of useful investigation nearer home, and to which our cares may be
more beneficially applied. The interior of our own territories has yet
been very imperfectly explored. Our coasts along many degrees of
latitude upon the shores of the Pacific Ocean, though much frequented
by our spirited commercial navigators, have been barely visited by our
public ships....
The establishment of an uniform standard of weights and measures was
one of the specific objects contemplated in the formation of our
Constitution, and to fix that standard was one of the powers delegated
by express terms in that instrument to Congress. The Governments of
Great Britain and France have scarcely ceased to be occupied with
inquiries and speculations on the same subject since the existence of
our Constitution, and with them it has expanded into profound,
laborious, and expensive researches into the figure of the earth and
the comparative length of the pendulum vibrating seconds in various
latitudes from the equator to the pole....
Connected with the establishment of an university, or separate from
it, might be undertaken the erection of an astronomical observatory,
with provision for the support of an astronomer, to be in constant
attendance of observation upon the phenomena of the heavens, and for
the periodical publication of his observations. It is with no feeling
of pride as an American that the remark may be made that on the
comparatively small territorial surface of Europe there are existing
upward of 130 of these light-houses of the skies, while throughout the
whole American hemisphere there is not one. If we reflect a moment
upon the discoveries which in the last four centuries have been made
in the physical constitution of the universe by the means of these
buildings and of observers stationed in them, shall we doubt of their
usefulness to every nation? And while scarcely a year passes over our
heads without bringing some new astronomical discovery to light, which
we must fain receive at second hand from Europe, are we not cutting
ourselves off from the means of returning light for light while we
have neither observatory nor observer upon our half of the globe and
the earth revolves in perpetual darkness to our unsearching eyes?
[Illustration: The Lewis and Clark expedition]