Twenty years before the US Naval Academy at Annapolis opened its doors, President John Quincy Adams and his Secretary of State Samuel L. Southard were aggressively campaigning for a Naval Academy similar to West Point. Since the start of the War of 1812, the U.S. Navy relied on informal training aboard ships by unqualified trainers (often the ship's chaplain), but such a system could no longer support a world-class navy such as what the U.S. navy was becoming.
In the early 1800's, initial plans for a Military Academy included a provision for a school of the navy, but the academy of West Point focused only on the Engineer and Artillery Corps of the army. There was some talk of expanding the academy to include nautical astronomy and other courses which could serve the needs of both the Navy and the Army, but then the War of 1812 sent many of the cadets out to sea as midshipmen in the navy. The war also shut down a naval school at the Washington Navy Yard, known to be the first military school in the United States with a formal mission of teaching mathematics, navigation and astronomy to midshipmen. In the absence of any formal academies, the U.S. Navy employed a training system for midshipmen modeled after the British. Classes were taught aboard shops, and because the navy had no authorization to hire school masters, classes were taught by the ship's chaplains. The system proved to be woefully inadequate.
Following the war, and an act by Congress in 1813 to employ naval school masters, additional schools were opened in New York in 1827 and Norfolk Virginia in 1828. In 1823, Secretary of War Samuel Southard began championing a more permanent naval academy. Southard focused much of his energy on convincing Congress to create a naval academy to match that of West Point. For six years, he kept up this campaign but was unable to get Congress to budge. Apparent success of the Navy during the late war had convinced many congressman, that such an academy was not needed. One of the few supporters of Southard was President John Quincy Adams. In President Adam's first State of the Union Address, he expressed his desire for a "naval school of instruction, corresponding with the Military Academy at West Point". Adams believed that such an institution was necessary for the "formation of scientific and accomplished officers". Adams, addressed the naivety of those Congressman who believed the "status quo" naval system of the U.S. was adequate for a growing nation. He called it a "vain and dangerous illusion" to believe that our so very extensive commerce could be protected without the proper support of world class navy. For years, the navy had remained small, yet proved itself capable to stand up to the Barbary States and even the powers of Europe, but those days were over. Adams continued, "But it is only since the close of the late war that by the numbers and force of the ships of which it was composed it could deserve the name of a navy. Yet it retains nearly the same organization as when it consisted only of 5 frigates." New rules and regulations are needed, and so was a naval academy.
"It were, indeed, a vain and dangerous illusion to believe that in the present or probable condition of human society a commerce so extensive and so rich as ours could exist and be pursued in safety without the continual support of a military marine -- the only arm by which the power of this Confederacy can be estimated or felt by foreign nations, and the only standing military force which can never be dangerous to our own liberties at home. A permanent naval peace establishment, therefore, adapted to our present condition, and adaptable to that gigantic growth with which the nation is advancing in its career, is among the subjects which have already occupied the foresight of the last Congress, and which will deserve your serious deliberations. Our Navy, commenced at an early period of our present political organization upon a scale commensurate with the incipient energies, the scanty resources, and the comparative indigence of our infancy, was even then found adequate to cope with all the powers of Barbary, save the first, and with one of the principle maritime powers of Europe.
At a period of further advancement, but with little accession of strength, it not only sustained with honor the most unequal of conflicts, but covered itself and our country with unfading glory. But it is only since the close of the late war that by the numbers and force of the ships of which it was composed it could deserve the name of a navy. Yet it retains nearly the same organization as when it consisted only of 5 frigates. The rules and regulations by which it is governed earnestly call for revision, and the want of a naval school of instruction, corresponding with the Military Academy at West Point, for the formation of scientific and accomplished officers, is felt with daily increasing aggravation."Two years later, Adams once again shared his desire to establish a naval academy. He pointed to the need of both theoretic instruction as well as practical classes on the art of navigation. Adams recognized that experience can teach a lot, but there are some things that would best be taught at a permanent school.
"The establishment of a naval academy, furnishing the means of theoretic instruction to the youths who devote their lives to the service of their country upon the ocean, still solicits the sanction of the Legislature. Practical seamanship and the art of navigation may be acquired on the cruises of the squadrons which from time to time are dispatched to distant seas, but a competent knowledge even of the art of ship building, the higher mathematics, and astronomy; the literature which can place our officers on a level of polished education with the officers of other maritime nations; the knowledge of the laws, municipal and national, which in their intercourse with foreign states and their governments are continually called into operation, and, above all, that acquaintance with the principles of honor and justice, with the higher obligations of morals and of general laws, human and divine, which constitutes the great distinction between the warrior-patriot and the licensed robber and pirate -- these can be systematically taught and eminently acquired only in a permanent school, stationed upon the shore and provided with the teachers, the instruments, and the books conversant with and adapted to the communication of the principles of these respective sciences to the youthful and inquiring mind."Even with Adam's support, no serious attempts at establishing a permanent naval academy were considered until 1838 when the Philadelphia Naval Academy was opened. The Philadelphia Academy began with 20 to 30 midshipmen enrolled or a one-year long curriculum. It was later extended to two years adding subjects such as maritime law and gunnery. The Philadelphia Naval school was housed at the Philadelphia Naval Asylum which was originally built as a hospital, and served as the United States Naval Academy for 7 years from 1838 to 1845. The Philadelphia Naval Asylum continued to serve the United States Navy until 1976 as a home for retired sailors.
On October 10, 1845 under Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft, the United States Naval Academy was established replacing the Philadelphia Naval Asylum. The new academy was formed in Annapolis and today is a 338 acre campus with over 4500 midshipmen in attendance.
References
Presidency.ucsb.edu. (2018). John Quincy Adams: First Annual Message. [online] Available at: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29467 [Accessed 30 Jan. 2018].Bates, C. (2015). The Early Republic and Antebellum America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History. Routledge, p.pg. 744.
Coulter, J. (2017). Cadets on Campus: History of Military Schools of the United States. Texas A&M UNIversity, p.chapter 7.
En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Philadelphia Naval Asylum. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Naval_Asylum [Accessed 30 Jan. 2018].
En.wikipedia.org. (2018). United States Naval Academy. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Naval_Academy [Accessed 30 Jan. 2018].
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