The Smithsonian Institution is founded in Washington…

The Smithsonian Institution is founded in Washington D.C. on August 10, 1846.

The British scientist James Smithson (1765–1829) had left most of his wealth to his nephew Henry James Hungerford.

When Hungerford died childless in 1835, the estate had passed "to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an Establishment for the increase & diffusion of knowledge among men", in accordance with Smithson's will.

Congress had officially accepted the legacy bequeathed to the nation, and pledged the faith of the United States to the charitable trust on July 1, 1836.

The American diplomat Richard Rush had been dispatched to England by President Andrew Jackson to collect the bequest.

Rush returned in August 1838 with one hundred and five sacks containing 104,960 gold sovereigns (about $500,000 at the time, which is equivalent to $11,509,000 in 2017).

Once the money was in hand, eight years of Congressional haggling ensued over how to interpret Smithson's rather vague mandate "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge."

Unfortunately, the money was invested by the US Treasury in bonds issued by the state of Arkansas which soon defaulted.

After heated debate, Massachusetts Representative (and ex-President) John Quincy Adams had persuaded Congress to restore the lost funds with interest and, despite designs on the money for other purposes, had persuaded his colleagues to preserve it for an institution of science and learning.

Finally, on August 10, 1846, President James K. Polk signs the legislation that establishes the Smithsonian Institution as a trust instrumentality of the United States, to be administered by a Board of Regents and a Secretary of the Smithsonian.