By an Act of Congress approved April 29, 1812, the Military Academy was reorganized, and the provisions of this Act furnished the general principles upon which the Academy has since been conducted and controlled; a more adequate corps of professors was authorized, a maximum of 250 cadets was fixed, and age and mental requisites for admission of candidates were prescribed, and in 1817 under the able superintendency of Major Sylvanus Thayer, a graduate of the West Point class of 1808, the present era in the Academy’s history began, because he made it a school for the practical and theoretical training of cadets for the military service. Since then the requisites for admission have been increased from time to time by Congress and with its permission by the Secretary of War.
In 1834 an appropriation (of $139,881.45) for the Military Academy was for the first time made in a separate bill, called the Military Academy bill.
In 1838 many records and other property were destroyed by fire.
Prior to 1843 a prescribed residence was not a legal qualification for appointment but the selection of one cadet from each congressional district became a custom, and in this year Congress prescribed that the corps of cadets should consist of one cadet (recommended by the member) from each congressional district, one (recommended by the delegate) from each Territory, one from the District of Columbia and ten from the United States at large, to be appointed by the President; the number of cadets varying as the number of congressmen and delegates increased or diminished.
The Academic Board now comprises the following, to-wit:
Commandant of Cadets—Instructor of Tactics.
Professor of Civil and Military Engineering.
Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy.
Professor of Chemistry, Mineralogy and Geology.
Professor of Practical Military Engineering, Military Signaling and Telegraphy.
Without regard to his rank the Superintendent is the head of the institution, while the other members of the Board take precedence according to rank.
These officers have as many assistants detailed from the army as the Secretary of War deems necessary for the proper instruction of the cadets, and the senior assistant in each department of instruction is a member of the Academic Board or of a committee of it, for the purpose of examining cadets, arranging them in order of merit, and determining their proficiency or deficiency in every branch of study in that department; and the instructor of any section under examination or consideration is a member of a department committee of the Academic Board for the purpose of examining the section and arranging it in order of merit.