A DISCOURSE

CONCERNING THE

INFLUENCE OF AMERICA ON THE MIND;

BEING THE

ANNUAL ORATION

DELIVERED BEFORE

THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY,

AT THE UNIVERSITY IN PHILADELPHIA,

ON THE 18TH OCTOBER, 1823,

BY THEIR APPOINTMENT, AND PUBLISHED BY THEIR ORDER.

BY C. J. INGERSOLL,

MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

PHILADELPHIA:

PUBLISHED BY ABRAHAM SMALL.

1823.

AT a Special Meeting of the American Philosophical Society, held this day, it was

Resolved, that the thanks of the Society be communicated to Mr. INGERSOLL, for the oration pronounced by him, this day, by their appointment, and that he be requested to furnish them a copy for publication.

Extract from the Minutes.

R. M. PATTERSON, Secretary.

Hall of the Amer. Phil. Soc.

Oct. 18th, 1823.

A DISCOURSE, &c.

APPOINTED to deliver the annual discourse of the American Philosophical Society, I propose to sketch the philosophical condition of this country, and explain the influence of America on the mind. The task is not an easy one, owing to the extreme dispersion of the materials. Elsewhere intellectual improvements are collected in the accessible repositories of a metropolis, absorbing most of the intelligence of a whole nation, and flourishing with artificial culture long applied. In the United States we have no such emporium; the arts and sciences are but of recent and spontaneous growth, scattered over extensive regions and a sparse population.

We will begin with the base of the American pile, whose aggrandisement, like the pyramids of Africa, confounds the speculations of Europe. While the summit and sides elsewhere are more wrought and finished, America excels in the foundation, in which we are at least the seniors, of all other nations. Public funds for the B