Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler - NIST Virtual Library - National Institute ...

their families, together with his wife, their four children, and 96 trunks, boxes, and bales, that included
3,000 volumes of classical works in history, mathematics, and natural philosophy from the previously
mentioned extensive library. Also brought along were a number of instruments and standard weights
and measures, including a standard meter, constructed in Paris in 1799 by the Committee of Weights
and Measures, which subsequently became known as the “Committee Meter” of the U. S. Coast
Survey.
As already noted, he did not come to America specifically to apply his scientific knowledge, but rather
to follow agricultural interests and to establish a Swiss Land Colony in one of the southern states.
However, the land deal fell through because one of the advance agents had speculated with the
funds. Thus, Hassler immediately fell into financial straits and was forced to sell off a part of his library
in order to provide for his family and to provide aid to many of the emigrants he had brought along
with him on this venture.
It was during this early period that Hassler was able to come in contact with the leading scientific men
of this country and was soon elected a member of the prestigious American Philosophical Society in
Philadelphia. Throughout the 1790’s, the presence of the nation’s Capitol in this city had made it
possible for this Society to fill a semi-public role. Thomas Jefferson, its vice-president from 1791, had
become its president at about the time he took up his few duties as Vice-President of the United
States in 1797. Thus, it is plain to see how Hassler was brought to the attention of the Chief
Executive, soon after his arrival in this country. It might be further noted, as we prepare to celebrate
the 200 th Anniversary of the Constitution this year, that it was possible that the stated need to “Fix the
Standard of Weights and Measures” in Article 1, Section 8, of this document may have caused
Jefferson to cast an admiring eye on Hassler for his proven ability along these lines. But it was the
“Commerce Clause,” with which the Congress was more readily able to associate, that provided the
constitutional framework upon which to formulate the “Survey of the Coast.” As for the latter, it was
becoming abundantly clear from the pressing demands by commercial interests that better charts and
navigational aids were needed by mariners plying the nation’s coastlines.
Time does not allow, for the purposes of this presentation, to go into all the ramifications of why
Hassler’s “Plan for the Survey of the Coast” came to be the accepted one out of the several put forth.
Suffice it to say, his was the best formulated, most complete, and based on his solid surveying
experience abroad, to be submitted in response to the law authorizing the Survey of the Coast,
passed on February 10, 1807. His plan, in direct response to Albert Gallatin’s Circular Letter of March
25, 1807, comprising six and a half pages written in French, was forwarded on April 3. It was later
translated into English by his friend, Professor James Renwick of Columbia College. In the meantime,
Hassler had been appointed professor of mathematics at the Military Academy at West Point on
February 14, 1807. Hassler’s plan was accepted by President Jefferson on July 21, 1807, and he was
so informed through a letter from Robert Patterson, Director of the Mint, indicating “that for the time
being the execution of the survey was suspended, because of the political disturbances in Europe
and America.” An initial appropriation of $50,000 had been made, however, for the purchase of
instruments and other supplies needed for the Survey. This was twenty times that appropriated for
the Lewis & Clark Expedition [$2,500] of only four years earlier and considered by the usual
penurious Congress as an astronomical amount. The Act itself mentioned no department but placed
the Survey directly under the President. The Treasury Department actually took up the work of
organization because of its concern with lighthouses, because it was the most highly developed
executive department, and because Secretary Gallatin was both Swiss and a man of scholarly tastes.
Hassler’s professorship at West Point lasted until December 31, 1809. He resigned on February 14,
1810, as a result of a dictate by the new Secretary of War stating that “no law authorizes the
employment of civilians at West Point.” He next took a professorship at Union College from March 20,
1810, to July 23, 1811, as Professor of Natural Philosophy and Mathematics.
It was at this time that Secretary Gallatin was finally able to take up the work of the Coast Survey and
sent Hassler on a mission to London for the procurement of the requisite instruments. A year later, he
received instructions from Washington to remain in London until completion of the object of his
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