ey, and Theodore W. Dwight, among educators; and by such other
eminent Americans as U. S. Grant, William Fitzhugh Lee, Robert C.
Winthrop, Hugh McCulloch, John J. Knox, Orlando B. Potter, A. H.
Colquitt, George Bancroft, Hannibal Hamlin, John Jay, Right Reverend
William I. Kip, David Swing, and Phillips Brooks.

The result of conferences and correspondence with these and other
citizens of like character led to the founding, in 1885, of the
American Institute of Civics, which was subsequently chartered under
the laws of Congress, and was dedicated to the service of promoting
the qualities in citizenship which Washington sought to promote by his
latest labors and final bequests, and which he, in common with
Jefferson, Hamilton, and Madison, believed to be necessary "to the
security of a free constitution," and to the welfare of the government
and people of the United States. Its distinctive purposes are
succinctly set forth in its charter as follows:

1. To promote on the part of youths and adults generally, without
reference to the inculcation of special theories or partisan
views, a patient and conscientious study of the most essential
facts relating to affairs of government and citizenship, to the
end that every citizen may be qualified to act the part of an
intelligent and upright juror in all affairs submitted to the
decision of the ballot.

2. To promote, in the same spirit, such special attention to the
study of Civics[7] in higher institutions of learning, and
otherwise, as shall have a tendency to secure wise, impartial,
and patriotic action on the part of those who shall occupy
positions of trust and responsibility, as executive or
legislative officers, and as leaders of public opinion.

[7] Defined in the Standard Dictionary as follows: "The
science that treats of citizenship and of the relations
between citizens and the government: a new word directly
derived from the adjective _civic_, introduced by Henry
Randall Waite."

Organized under such auspices and with such purposes it represents the
only practical and sustained effort which has been made by the people
of the United States for the realization of the aims above outlined;
and with persistency of purpose and increasing usefulness it has for
more than twelve years prosecuted its mission for the safeguarding of
American institutions.

Poli