MONROE, La. (KNOE) - On August 10, 1846 the United States Senate passed the act organizing the Smithsonian institution. It was signed into law by President James K. Polk.

Congress had accepted a bequest from the estate of British Scientist James Smithson in 1836, but it took ten years to get the institution codified into law.

Smithson had left the estate to the young country to establish the Smithsonian Institution for “the increase and diffusion of knowledge”.

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