On Feb. 9, 1821, after two years of petitioning from Baptist ministers Luther Rice, Obadiah B. Brown, Spencer H. Cone and Enoch Reynolds, President James Monroe signed an Act of Congress to create Columbian College in Washington, D.C.
The University Charter, in addition to establishing the college, served as its first governing document, calling for the new institution to be “under the management, direction, and government of a number of trustees” and existing “for the sole and exclusive purpose of educating youth in the English, learned, and foreign languages, the liberal arts, sciences, and literature.”
In 1873, the charter was amended, renaming Columbian College as Columbian University. The university was renamed the George Washington University by an Act of Congress in 1904.