Historical Overview: The United States and Astronomy Until the 1860s

Abstract

Astronomy as an amateur recreation was entrenched in much of Western Europe by the eighteenth century, where there were the financial means, the knowledge base, the manufacture of tools and the genuine interest among those with the time to engage in such a recreation. It took most of the first half of the nineteenth century for this pastime to become popular in the relatively young United States. This new country had no wealthy aristocracy to indulge in subjects of personal interest. In other words, there was no American Carrington, Common, Cooper, Dawes, De la Rue, Lee, William Herschel, John Herschel, Huggins, Lassell, Lockyer, Nasmyth, Parsons (Third Earl of Rosse), Smyth or South—to mention just Britain alone (see Chapman 1998). Nor was there an established mechanism for the newly-created American Federal Government to finance science education and technology on a national level. With respect to the last, it was felt that much of these matters would, in any case, fall under the purview of the individual states. What little knowledge base was present on the subject of astronomy in America was inherited from Europe and, for most people, that was considered sufficient for the practicalities of everyday life. The value of this science in navigation, surveying and time-keeping was accepted as a given, but most Americans saw no reason to spend money or time to extend knowledge beyond what was needed for these routine tasks. Through much of the first half of the nineteenth century, required astronomical instruments were purchased from Europe rather than manufactured within the United States. It was also some time before American books on the subject were published. The English publications were considered adequate. Americans were satisfied with the situation as it was at the time.