(Without covering the tedious detailsthat would have to happen beforesuch a provision would be realized),since in my will I made a bequest“to found at Washington,under the name Smithsonian Institution,an establishment for the increaseand diffusion of knowledge among men”to a country I had never visited,and particularly since my papershad perished in a fire at the Institutionin January 1865,people have wondered why I did so,usually seeking a single reasonthat they themselves would agree with,as though human motivationwas a simple, not complex, subjectFrom my resting place at the Institution(where I accept the designationof English cousin), I’ll offer,in no particular order, three reasons,and you can decide for yourselfwhich, if any, you agree with:
To be memorialized by having my nameon a building likely to be as permanentas anything human can be;
Because America seemed to bethe future at the time of the bequest:the home of the illustrious Ben Franklin,a refuge for former colleaguessuch as Priestley and Cooper;I was a democrat, not a monarchist(though never a fanatic about it,even in my youth);
and of course,to make sure that the bulk of my estatedid not revert to the Crown,as it would have under the lawbecause I was illegitimate:by converting into cash and stockslands that would have so reverted,I was able to minimizethe effects of the laws on inheritanceand exercise a degree of control