Upon taking over the command, he immediately drew upon his genius for organization, with the result that the cadets were organized into a battalion of two companies, a “Commandant of Cadets” was created, the classes were for study purposes divided into sections, transfers were made between sections, and weekly reports, showing daily progress in studies, were rendered. Moreover, the system and scale of daily marks, the publication of the _Annual Register_, the introduction of the Board of Visitors, the check-book system, the preponderating influence of the blackboard, and the essential part of the modern Regulations are proofs of his untiring efforts as an executive. The above changes that he effected, and the reforms that he introduced, are a part of the modern organization of West Point. Perhaps no one method has so much influenced the quality of the instruction of the cadets as the blackboard recitations. Major Thayer insisted on this form, although old records show that it was introduced at West Point by Mr. George Baron, a civilian teacher, who in the autumn of 1801 gave to Cadet Swift “a specimen of his mode of teaching at the blackboard.” Today it is the prominent feature in Academic instruction. Major Thayer’s success in giving West Point an upward impetus had attracted general attention and observation throughout the country so that appointments were now sought after with avidity. The politicians rejoiced at the Academy’s increased importance and the consequent patronage that the appointments offered. Although the present law did not obtain, whereby Congressmen appointed cadets, still it had been the custom for the President to appoint men to West Point upon the recommendation of a Representative. In 1843, a law was passed that allowed one cadet for each congressional district. Major Thayer was at his own request relieved as Superintendent, after a brilliant administration whose results were so beneficial to the institution as to gain for him from posterity the title of “Father of the Military Academy.”