The Institute`s origins date to the earliest days of the Republic. The idea for the establishment of an official U.S. government institution dedicated to the cause of international peace can be traced back to debates by the framers of the U.S. Constitution. The first formal proposal for the establishment of an official U.S. government peace institution dates to 1792. The product of efforts by architect and publisher Benjamin Banneker and physician and educator Dr. Benjamin Rush, the proposal called for establishing a "Peace Office" on equal footing with the War Department—noting the importance to the welfare of the United States of "an office for promoting and preserving perpetual peace in our country." Over the years, the idea of an official U.S. peace office or agency continued to be advocated by a wide array of prominent Americans, including Woodrow Wilson, Jennings Randolph, and Everett Dirksen. In fact, from 1935 to 1976 over 140 bills were introduced in Congress to establish various peace-related departments, agencies, bureaus, and committees of Congress. The mandate of the United States Institute of Peace, as established by Congress, is to support the development, transmission, and use of knowledge to promote peace and curb violent international conflict. To this end, the United States Institute of Peace Act directs the Institute to serve the American people and government through the "widest possible range of education and training, basic and applied research opportunities, and peace information services on the means to promote international peace and the resolution of conflicts among the nations and peoples of the world without recourse to violence."