AS the Arts and Sciences are the Foundation and Support of Agriculture, Manufactures, and Commerce; as they are necessary to the Wealth, Peace Independence and Happiness of a People; as they essentially promote the Honor and Dignity of the Government which Patronises them; and as they are most effectually cultivated, and diffused through a State, by the forming and incorporating of Men of Genius and Learning into Public Societies: For these beneficial Purposes;

Be it therefore enacted by the Council and House of Representatives in Ge­neral Court assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That the Honora­ble Samuel Adams, Esq Hon. John Adams, Esq John Bacon Esq Hon. James Bowdoin, Esq Rev. Charles Chauncy, D D. Rev. John Clark Da­vid Cobb Esq. Rev Samuel Cooper, D. D. Hon. Thomas Cushing, Esq Hon. Nathan Cushing, Esq Hon. William Cushing, Esq Tristram Dalton, Esq Hon. Francis Dana, Esq Rev. Samuel Deane, Rev. Perez Fobes, Rev. Caleb Gannett, Hon. Henry Gardner, Esq Mr. Benjamin Guild Hon. John Hancock Esq Hon. Joseph Hawley Esq Edward Augustus Holyoke, Esq Doctor Ebenezer Hunt, Jonathan Jackson, Esq Doctor Charles Jar­vis, Rev. Samuel Langdon, D. D. Hon. Levi Lincoln, Esq Rev. Daniel Little, Rev. Elijah Lothrop, John Lowell, Esq Rev. Samuel Mather, D.D. Samuel Moody, Esq Hon. Andrew Oliver, Esq Doctor Joseph Orne, Dr. Theodore Parsons, Hon. George Partridge, Esq Hon. Robert Treat Paine, Esq Rev. Phillips Payson, Samuel Phillips, jun. Esq Hon. John Picker­ing, Esq Hon. Oliver Prescot, Esq Rev. Zedekiab Sanger, Hon. Nathaniel Peaslee Serjeant, Esq Micajah Sawyer, Esq Theodore Sedgwick Esq Hon. William Sever, Esq Stephen Sewall, Esq Hon. David Sewall, Esq John Sprague, Esq Ebenezer Storer, Esq Caleb Strong, Esq Hon James Sulli­van, Esq Dr. John Bernard Sweat Mr. Nathaniel Tracy, Cotton Tufts, Esq Hon. James Warren, Esq Rev. Samuel West, Rev. Edward Wiggles­worth, Rev. Joseph Willard, Rev. Samuel Williams Rev. Abraham Willi­ams, Rev. Nehemiah Williams, and Mr. James Winthrop, be, and they hereby are formed into, constituted and made a Body Politic and Corporate by the Name of The American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and that they and their Successors, and such other Persons as shall be elected in the Man­ner hereafter mentioned, shall be, and continue a Body Politic and Corpo­rate, by the same Name forever.

And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the Fellows of the said Academy may from Time to Time elect a President, one or more Vice Presidents, one or more Secretaries, and such other Officers of the said Academy, as they shall judge necessary or convenient; and they shall have full Power and Authority from Time to Time to determine and esta­blish the Names, Number and Duties of their several Officers, and the Tenure or Estate they shall respectively have in their Offices; and also to authorize and impower their President, or some other Fellow of the Academy, at their Pleasure, to administer such Oaths to such Officers as they shall ap­point and determine for the well ordering and good Government of the said Academy; provided the same be not repugnant to the Laws of this State.

And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the Fellows of the said Academy shall have one common Seal, which they may make Use of in whatsoever Cause or Business shall concern the Academy, or be relative to the End and Design of its Institution; and shall have Power and Authority from Time to Time to break, change, and renew the Common Seal, at their Pleasure; and that they may Sue and be Sued in all Actions, real, personal and mixed, and prosecute and defend the same unto final [Page] Judgment and Execution, by the Name of, The President and Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the Fellows of the said Academy may from Time to Time elect such Persons to be Fellows thereof, as they shall judge proper; and that they shall have full Power and Authority from Time to Time to suspend, expel or disfranchise, any Fellow of the said Academy, who shall by his Conduct render himself unworthy of a Place in that Body, in the Judgment of the Academy; and also to settle and establish the Rules, Forms and Conditions of Election, Sus­pension, Expulsion and Disfranchisement. Provided, That the Number of the said Academy, who are Inhabitants of this State, shall not, at any one Time, be more than Two Hundred, nor less than Forty.

And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the Fellows of the said Academy shall have full Power and Authority from Time to Time, to make and enact such reasonable Rules, Orders and Bye-Laws, not repugnant to the Laws of this State, as shall be necessary or convenient for the well Ordering and good Government of the said Academy; and to annex reasonable pecuniary Fines and Penalties to the Breach of them, not exceeding the Sum of twenty Pounds, to be Sued for and recovered in any Court of Record within this State, in the Name and for the Use of the Pre­sident and Fellows of the said Academy; and the same Rules, Orders and Bye-Laws to repeal at their Pleasure: And also to settle and establish the Times, Places, and Manner of convening the Fellows of the said Academy: And also to determine the Number of Fellows which shall be present, to constitute a Meeting of the said Academy. Provided, That the Fellows of the said Academy shall meet Twice in a Year at the least; and that the Place of their Meeting shall never be more than Thirty Miles distant from the Town of Boston

And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the Fellows of the said Academy may, and shall forever hereafter be deemed capable in the Law of having holding, and taking in Fee-simple or any less Estate, by gift, grant, devise or otherwise, any Lands, Tenements, or other Estate, Real and Personal: Provided, That the Annual Income of the said Real Estate, shall not exceed the Sum of Five Hundred Pounds, and the Annual Income or Interest of the said Personal Estate shall not exceed the Sum of Two Thousand Pounds. All the Sums aforementioned in this Act to be valued in Silver, at the Rate of Six Shillings and eight Pence by the Ounce. And the Annual Interest and Income of the said Real and Personal Estate, together with the Fines and Penalties aforesaid, shall be appropriated for Premiums to encourage Improvements and Discoveries in Agriculture, Arts and Manufactures, or for other Purposes, consistent with the End and Design of the Institution of the said Academy, as the Fellows thereof shall determine.

And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the End and Design of the Institution of the said Academy is, to promote and encourage the Knowledge of the Antiquities of America, and of the Natural History of the Country, and to determine the Uses to which the various Natural Pro­ductions of the Country may be applied; to promote and encourage Me­dical Discoveries, Mathematical Disquisitions, Philosophical Enquiries and Experiments; Astronomical Meteorological and Geographical Observations; and Improvements in Agriculture, Arts, Manufactures and Commerce; and, in fine, to cultivate every Art and Science which may tend to advance the Interest, Honor, Dignity and Happiness of a free, independent and virtuous People.

And it is further enacted, That the Place where the first Meeting of the Fellows of the said Academy shall be held, shall be the Philosophy Chamber in the University of Cambridge; and that the Honorable James Bowdoin, Esq be, and he hereby is authorised and impowered to fix the Time for holding the said Meeting, and to notify the same to the Fellows of the Academy.

[ This Act passed May 4, 1780.]