elphia Library Company and New York Society Library served as surrogate congressional libraries when Congress convened in those cities. On April 24, 1800, the Library of Congress was established when John Adams, the nation's second president, signed an act of Congress, which appropriated $5,000 "for the purchase of such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress...and for fitting up a suitable apartment for containing them." Books were ordered from London, forming a collection of 740 books and three maps housed in the new United States Capitol. Adams' successor as U.S. president, Thomas Jefferson, also played a crucial role in shaping development of the Library of Congress. On January 26, 1802, Jefferson signed a bill allowing the president to appoint the librarian of Congress and establishing a Joint Committee on the Library to oversee it. The law also extended borrowing privileges to the president and vice president. In August 1814, British forces occupied Washington and, in retaliation for American acts of destruction in Canada, burned several federal government buildings. Among the buildings burnt was the Library of Congress, which saw over 3,000 of its volumes destroyed. These volumes were held in the Senate wing of the Capitol; one surviving volume was a gove