Editing Henry Wilson (section)

===Creation of the National Academy of Sciences===
{{further|National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine}}
In early 1863, [[Louis Agassiz]], one of a group of Cambridge, Massachusetts scientists interested in establishing an academy of sciences modeled on the Royal Society and the French Institute, approached Wilson with the idea of establishing such an academy. On February 11, 1863, a Permanent Commission, which comprised Admiral Charles Henry Davis and the scientists Joseph Henry and Alexander Dallas Bache, was appointed within the Navy Department and given the task of evaluating and reporting on the inventions and other ideas submitted by citizens in order to aid the war effort. The establishment of the Permanent Commission prompted Davis to suggest that "the whole plan, so long entertained, of the Academy could be successfully carried out if an act of incorporation were boldly asked for in the name of some of the leading men of science, from different parts of the country."<ref>Charles Henry Davis, letter  of February 24, 1863, to his wife; quoted in Cochrane, Rexmond, The National Academy of Sciences, the First Hundred Years 1863-1963 (Washington, DC, The National Academy of Sciences, 1978), pp. 52-53.</ref> Just prior to the establishment of the Permanent Commission, Agassiz had written to Wilson suggesting that a "National Academy of Sciences" could be established and recommending that if Wilson were favorable, Bache, "to whom the scientific men of the country look as upon their leader…can draft in twenty four hours a complete plan for you…"<ref>Louis Agassiz, letter of February 5, 1863, to Senator Henry Wilson; quoted in Cochrane, Rexmond, The National Academy of Sciences, the First Hundred Years 1863-1963 (Washington, DC, The National Academy of Sciences, 1978), p. 53.</ref>
On February 19, Agassiz came to Washington from Cambridge to accept appointment, upon Wilson's nomination, to the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Agassiz went directly from the train to Bache's house, where he met with Bache, Wilson, and the scientists Benjamin Apthorp Gould and Benjamin Peirce. Working from plans laid out by Bache and Davis, the group drafted a bill for the establishment of a National Academy of Sciences, to be put before Congress.<ref name=Agassiz>Cochrane, Rexmond, The National Academy of Sciences, the First Hundred Years 1863-1963 (Washington, DC, The National Academy of Sciences, 1978), p. 53.</ref>
On February 20, Wilson introduced the bill in the Senate. Just before adjournment on March 3, 1863, Wilson asked the Senate "to take up a bill…to incorporate the National Academy of Sciences."<ref name=Agassiz/> The Senate passed the bill by voice vote; later that day it was sent to the House of Representatives, which passed it without comment. President Lincoln signed it into law before midnight that same day.<ref>Cochrane, Rexmond, The National Academy of Sciences, the First Hundred Years 1863-1963 (Washington, DC, The National Academy of Sciences, 1978), p. 56.</ref>