Page "Thomas Jefferson" Paragraph 52

Ideas for a national institution for military education were circulated during the American Revolution.

In May 1801 the Secretary of War Henry Dearborn announced that the president had appointed Major Jonathan Williams, grandnephew of Benjamin Franklin, to direct organizing to establish such a school.

Following the advice of George Washington, John Adams and others, in 1802 Jefferson and Congress agreed to authorize the funding and construction of the United States Military Academy at West Point on the Hudson River in New York.

On March 16, 1802, Jefferson signed the Military Peace Establishment Act, directing that a corps of engineers be established and " constitute a Military Academy.

" The Act would provide well-trained officers for a professional army.

On July 4, 1802, the US Military Academy at West Point formally started as an institution for scientific and military learning.