The purpose of the Boy Scouts of America,
incorporated on February 8, 1910, and chartered by Congress in 1916, is
to provide an educational program for boys and young adults to build
character, to train in the responsibilities of participating
citizenship, and to develop personal fitness.
Scout
Oath
On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to god and my country
and to obey the Scout Law:
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight.
Scout
Law
A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind,
obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.
Scout
Motto
Be Prepared.
Scout
Slogan
Do a Good Turn Daily.
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As a youth, Robert Baden-Powell
greatly enjoyed the outdoors, learning about nature and how to live in
the wilderness. After returning as a military hero from service in
Africa, Baden-Powell discovered that English boys were reading the
manual on stalking and survival in the wilderness he had written for his
military regiment. Gathering ideas from Ernest Thompson Seton, Daniel
Carter Beard, and others, he rewrote the manual as a nonmilitary nature
skill book and called it Scouting for Boys. To test his ideas,
Baden-Powell brought together 22 boys to camp at Brownsea Island, off
the coast of England. This historic campout was a success and resulted
in the advent of Scouting. Thus, the imagination and inspiration of
Baden-Powell, later proclaimed Chief Scout of the World, brought
Scouting to youth the world over.
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Born in Scotland, Ernest Thompson
Seton immigrated to America as a youth in the 1880s. His fascination
with the wilderness led him to become a naturalist, an artist, and an
author, and through his works he influenced both youth and adults. Seton
established a youth organization called the Woodcraft Indians, and his
background of outdoor skills and interest in youth made him a logical
choice for the position of first Chief Scout of the BSA in 1910. His
many volumes of Scoutcraft became an integral part of Scouting, and his
intelligence and enthusiasm helped turn an idea into reality.
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Woodsman, illustrator, and
naturalist, Daniel Carter Beard was a pioneering spirit of the Boy
Scouts of America. Already 60 years old when the Boy Scouts of America
was formed, he became a founder and merged it with his own boys'
organization, the Sons of Daniel Boone. As the first national Scout
commissioner, Beard helped design the original Scout uniform and
introduced the elements of the First Class Scout badge. "Uncle
Dan," as he was known to boys and leaders, will be remembered as a
colorful figure dressed in buckskin who helped form Scouting in the
United States.
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In 1909, Chicago publisher William
D. Boyce lost his way in a dense London fog. A boy came to his aid and,
after guiding the man, refused a tip, explaining that as a Scout he
would not take a tip for doing a Good Turn. This gesture by an unknown
Scout inspired a meeting with Robert Baden-Powell, the British founder
of the Boy Scouts. As a result, William Boyce incorporated the Boy
Scouts of America on February 8, 1910. He also created the Lone Scouts,
which merged with the Boy Scouts of America in 1924.
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James E. West was appointed the
first Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America in 1911.
Although orphaned and physically handicapped, he had the perseverance to
graduate from law school and become a successful attorney. This same
determination provided the impetus to help build Scouting into the
largest and most effective youth organization in the world. When he
retired in 1943, Dr. West was recognized throughout the country as the
true architect of the Boy Scouts of America.
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