Morrill Act of 1862
Morrill Act of 1862
Legislation
Date: July 2, 1862
Source: Morrill, Justin Smith. "Morrill Act of 1862." United States Congress, July 2, 1862.
About the Author: Justin Smith Morrill (1810–1898) served in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican from Vermont in the years from 1855 to 1867. As a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, he sponsored the Land-Grant College Act of 1862. He served in the Senate from 1867 to 1898, guaranteeing funds for the survival of land grant colleges with the Second Morrill Act of 1880.
INTRODUCTION
The Morrill Land Grant provided public lands for colleges with a focus on agricultural and mechanical education. It reflected the intent of the federal government to establish a policy of providing opportunities for higher education to the agricultural and working classes.
Until the Morrill Act, the vast majority of institutions of higher learning were religious or private. By 1862, several state governments, notably Iowa and Illinois, had begun to assume responsibility for higher education because the existing colleges and universities were not including the lower-income people from the agricultural and industrial classes. Illinois had been the first state to propose land grant universities when the state legislature in 1853 sent the U.S. Congress a request that each state receive $500,000 of public land for the express purpose of creating universities to serve the industrial classes.
Justin Smith Morrill used the Illinois resolution to craft the first Morrill Bill for land grant colleges in 1857. He argued that a curriculum focused on practical sciences, rather than Latin and English, would do the greatest good for the greatest number of people. The 1857 bill faced heavy opposition because of complaints from southern and western legislators that it was constitutionally improper to give the federal government a role in education. It narrowly passed Congress only to be vetoed by President James Buchanan on the grounds that it was a financial drain on the Treasury, a threat to existing colleges, and unconstitutional.
Abraham Lincoln expressed support for the Morrill Act during the presidential campaign of 1860. Upon his election and the secession of southern states, Morrill made another effort to get the bill into law. It passed the Senate by a vote of 32–7 and the House by a vote of 90–25. On July 2, 1862, Lincoln signed the measure.
PRIMARY SOURCE
MORRILL ACT OF 1862
Chap. CXXX.—AN ACT Donating Public Lands to the several States and Territories which may provide Colleges for the Benefit of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts.
Be it enacted by, the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That there be granted to the several States, for the purposes hereinafter mentioned, an amount of public land, to be apportioned to each State a quantity equal to thirty thousand acres for each Senator and Representative in Congress to which the States are respectively entitled by the apportionment under the census of eighteen hundred and sixty; Provided, That no mineral lands shall be selected or purchased under the provisions of this act.
SEC. 2.
And be it further enacted, That the land aforesaid, after being surveyed, shall be apportioned to the several States in sections or subdivisions of sections, not less than one-quarter of a section; and wherever there are public lands in a State, subject to sale at private entry at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, the quantity to which said State shall be entitled shall be selected from such lands, within the limits of such State; and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby directed to issue to each of the States, in which there is not the quantity of public lands subject to sale at private entry, at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, to which said State may be entitled under the provisions of this act, land scrip to the amount in acres for the deficiency of its distributive share; said scrip to be sold by said States, and the proceeds thereof applied to the uses and purposes prescribed in this act, and for no other purpose whatsoever: Provided, That in no case shall any State to which land scrip may thus be issued be allowed to locate the same within the limits of any other State or of any territory of the United States; but their assignees may thus locate said land scrip upon any of the unappropriated lands of the United States subject to sale at private entry, at one dollar and twenty-five cents. or less, an acre: And provided further, That not more than one million acres shall be located by such assignees in any one of the States: And provided further, That no such location shall be made before one year from the passage of this act.
SEC. 3.
And be it further enacted, That all the expenses of management, superintendence, and taxes from date of selection of said lands, previous to their sales, and all expenses incurred in the management and disbursement of moneys which may be received therefrom, shall be paid by the States to which they may belong, out of the treasury of said States, so that the entire proceeds of the sale of said lands shall be applied, without any diminution whatever, to the purposes hereinafter mentioned.
SEC. 4.
And be it further enacted, That all moneys derived from the sale of the lands aforesaid by the States to which the lands are apportioned, and from the sales of land scrip hereinbefore provided for, shall be invested in stocks of the United States, or of the States, or some other safe stocks, yielding not less than five per centum upon the par value of said stocks; and that the moneys so invested shall constitute a perpetual fund, the capital of which shall remain forever undiminished, (except so far as may be provided in section fifth of this act,) and the interest of which shall be inviolably appropriated, by each State which may take and claim the benefit of this act, to the endowment, support, and maintenance of at least one college where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the States may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life.
SEC. 5.
And be it further enacted, That the grant of land and land scrip hereby authorized shall be made on the following conditions, to which, as well as to the provisions herein-before contained, the previous assent of the several States shall be signified by legislative acts:
First. If any portion of the fund invested, as provided by the foregoing section, or any portion of the interest thereon, shall, by any action or contingency, be diminished or lost, it shall be replaced by the State to which it belongs, so that the capital of the fund shall remain forever undiminished; and the annual interest shall be regularly applied without diminution to the purposes mentioned in the fourth section of this act, except that a sum, not exceeding ten per centum upon the amount received by any State under the provisions of this act, may be expended for the purchase of lands for sites for experimental farms, whenever authorized by the respective legislatures of said States;
Second. No portion of said fund, nor the interest thereon, shall be applied, directly or indirectly, under any pretense whatever, to the purchase, erection, preservation, or repair of any building or buildings;
Third. Any State which may take and claim the benefit of the provisions of this act shall provide, within five years, at least not less than one college, as prescribed in the fourth section of this act, or the grant to such State shall cease; and said State shall be bound to pay the United States the amount received of any lands previously sold, and that the title to purchasers under the State shall be valid;
Fourth. An annual report shall be made regarding the progress of each college, recording any improvements and experiments made, with their costs and results, and such other matters, including State industrial and economical statistics, as may be supposed useful; one copy of which shall be transmitted by mail free, by each, to all the other colleges which may be endowed under the provisions of this act, and also one copy to the Secretary of the Interior;
Fifth. When lands shall be selected from those which have been raised to double the minimum price in consequence of railroad grants, they shall be computed to the States at the maximum price, and the number of acres proportionally diminished,
Sixth. No State, while in a condition of rebellion or insurrection against the Government of the United States, shall be entitled to the benefit of this act;
Seventh. No state shall be entitled to the benefits of this act unless it shall express its acceptance thereof by its legislature within two years from the date of its approval by the President.
Provided, That when any Territory shall become a State and be admitted into the Union, such new State shall be entitled to the benefits of the said act of July two, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, by expressing the acceptance therein required within three years from the date of its admission into the Union, and providing the college or colleges within five years after such acceptance, as prescribed in this act.
SEC. 6.
And be it further enacted, That land scrip issued under the provisions of this act shall not be subject to location until after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
SEC. 7.
And be it further enacted, That land officers shall receive the same fees for locating land scrip issued under the provisions of this act as is now allowed for the location of military bounty land warrants under existing laws: Provided, That maximum compensation shall not be thereby increased.
SEC. 8.
And be it further enacted, That the governors of the several States to which scrip shall be issued under this act shall be required to report annually to Congress all sales made of such scrip until the whole shall be disposed of, the amount received for the same, and what appropriation has been made of the proceeds.
Approved, July 2, 1862. (12 Stat. 503.)
SIGNIFICANCE
States used their Morrill Act funds in a variety of ways to establish land grant colleges. While some created the first state universities, others established separate Agricultural and Mechanical (A&M) universities. A few of these A&M schools, such as the University of Kentucky and the University of Maryland, later evolved into state universities. Ultimately, nearly all of the institutions chose a liberal rather than a technical and narrow approach to higher education. This decision upset many agricultural leaders, who viewed the schools as potential training grounds for future farmers and engineers. However, enrollment and graduation rates for land grant universities show that agricultural and industrial workers were not initially attracted to the schools.
Nevertheless, in response to considerable discontent within the farming community, Congress passed the Hatch Act and the Smith-Lever Act. The Hatch Act of 1887 created agricultural experiment stations by authorizing direct payment of federal funds to each state to serve agricultural interests. The Smith-Lever Act created a Cooperative Extension Service associated with each land grant institution.
The 106 land grant colleges and universities established as a result of the Morrill Act include some of the best known and most respected schools in the United States, including the University of Illinois, the University of Tennessee, Pennsylvania State University, The Ohio State University, Louisiana State University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Auburn University.
FURTHER RESOURCES
Books
Christy, Ralph D. and Lionel Williamson. A Century of Service: Land-Grant Colleges and Universities, 1890–1990. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1991.
Cross, Coy F. Justin Smith Morrill: Father of Land-Grant Universities. East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University, 1999.
Edmond, J. B. The Magnificent Charter: The Origin and Role of the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges and Universities. Hicksville, N.Y.: Exposition Press, 1978.