Founded June 2, 1890 as a Select Committee, the Committee to Establish a University of the United States was an initiative of the United States Senate which became a Standing Committee on March 19, 1896. During this time there was also a National University Committee outside of the Senate.

In 1897 the committee tried to pass a bill to create a University of the United States, and three years later it presented a bill to allow the Smithsonian Institution to give out degrees. Neither bill was successful. The committee was disbanded in 1921 as part of a "housecleaning" that got rid of several largely inactive or defunct committees which still officially existed.