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six reputable colleges granting them, just four years later there were 21 colleges offering engineering degrees and the total number of engineers graduated had tripled to 866. The following decade added another 2,249 engineers, and by 1911 the United States was graduating 3,000 engineers a year, with a total of 38,000 in the work force. At the time, Germany was graduating 1,800 engineers per year. The US had become the leader in technical education just 50 years after passage of the
Morrill Act.
490:(120 km) of federal land, either within or contiguous to its boundaries, for each member of congress the state had as of the census of 1860. This land, or the proceeds from its sale, was to be used toward establishing and funding the educational institutions described above. Under provision six of the Act, "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," in reference to the recent
462:
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623:. This act required each state to show that race was not an admissions criterion, or else to designate a separate land-grant institution for African Americans. Thus, the second Morrill Act facilitated segregated education, although it also provided higher educational opportunities for African Americans who otherwise would not have had them. Among the seventy colleges and universities which eventually evolved from the Morrill Acts are several of today's
678:, with the land-grant universities' agents being sent to virtually every county of every state. In some states, the annual federal appropriations to the land-grant college under these laws exceed the current income from the investment of the sales proceeds of the original land grants. In the fiscal year 2006 USDA budget, $ 1.033 billion went to research and cooperative extension activities nationwide. For this purpose, then President
427:
522:. The resulting management of this scrip by the university yielded one third of the total grant revenues generated by all the states, even though New York received only one-tenth of the 1862 land grant. Overall, the 1862 Morrill Act allocated 17,400,000 acres (70,000 km) of land, which when sold yielded a collective endowment of $ 7.55 million.
505:
In 1890 the 1862 Act was extended to the former
Confederate states (see below for more detailed information), and it was eventually extended to every state and territory, including those created after 1862. If the federal land within a state was insufficient to meet that state's land grant, the state
584:
on constructing buildings as expensive and unnecessary, so instead the tools for engineering education increased, such as textbooks, laboratories and equipment. The number of engineers skyrocketed. Whereas in 1866 there were around 300 American men who had graduated with engineering degrees and only
484:
without excluding other scientific and classical studies and including military tactic, 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
489:
From the early to mid-19th century the federal government, through 162 violence-backed cessions, expropriated approximately 10.7 million acres of land from 245 tribal nations and divided it into roughly 80,000 parcels for redistribution. Under the act, each eligible state received 30,000 acres
396:. In 1861, Morrill resubmitted the act with the amendment that the proposed institutions would teach military tactics as well as engineering and agriculture. Aided by the secession of many states that did not support the plans, the reconfigured Morrill Act was signed into law by President
388:
Unlike the Turner Plan, which provided an equal grant to each state, the
Morrill bill allocated land based on the number of senators and representatives each state had in Congress. This was more advantageous to the more populous eastern states.
669:
and various categories of agricultural and veterinary research "under direction of" the land-grant universities. Congress later recognized the need to disseminate the knowledge gained at the land-grant colleges to farmers and homemakers. The
568:, on fortress construction, and their instructors were the authors of most engineering texts of the day. The Morrill Act changed all of that. Though the Congressional debates about the Act were largely focused on benefits to agriculture, the
502:. However, after the war, in the 1870s, Mississippi, Virginia, and South Carolina each assigned one African American college land grant status; these were, respectively, Alcorn University, Hampton Institute, and Claflin University.
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627:. Though the 1890 Act granted cash instead of land, it granted colleges under that act the same legal standing as the 1862 Act colleges; hence the term "land-grant college" properly applies to both groups.
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For 20 years prior to the first introduction of the bill in 1857, there was a political movement calling for the creation of agriculture colleges. The movement was led by
Professor
373:, drafted by Turner, calling for the Illinois congressional delegation to work to enact a land-grant bill to fund a system of industrial colleges, one in each state. Senator
529:
was the first to accept the terms of the
Morrill Act which provided the funding boost needed for the fledgling State Agricultural College and Model Farm (eventually renamed
544:
education in
America and boosted the United States into a position of leader in technical education. Before the Civil War, American colleges primarily trained students in
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564:. The first Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degrees, which typically required no Latin, came into being around 1850. American engineers were mostly educated at the
1048:
1114:
Debra Reid, "People's
Colleges for Other Citizens: Black Land-Grant Institutions and the Politics of Educational Expansion in the Post-Civil War Era," in
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An Act donating Public Lands to the several States and
Territories which may provide Colleges for the Benefit of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts.
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Lee, Robert; Ahtone, Tristan; Pearce, Margaret; Goodluck, Kalen; McGhee, Geoff; Leff, Cody; Lanpher, Katherine; Salinas, Taryn (March 30, 2020).
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To maintain their status as land-grant colleges, a number of programs are required to be maintained by the college. These include programs in
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552:. For the most part, only the relatively affluent could afford higher education, and entrance requirements often required proficiency in the
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and the "1994 land-grant colleges" for Native
Americans were also awarded cash by Congress in lieu of land to achieve "land-grant" status.
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signed a bill establishing the United States' first agriculture college, the
Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, known today as
277:
using the proceeds from sales of federally owned land, often obtained from Native American tribes through treaty, cession, or seizure. The
1233:
Lee, Robert and Tristan Ahtone. 2020. "How They Did It: Exposing How U.S. Universities Profited From Indigenous Land" PulitzerCenter.org
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of Illinois believed it was advisable that the bill should be introduced by an eastern congressman, and two months later Representative
1254:
Zdzienicka Fanshe, Rosalie. 2020. "The Morrill Act as Racial Contract: Settler-Colonialism and U.S. Higher Education" EScholarship.org
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Wallenstein, Peter. 2018. "The Morrill Land Grant College Act of 1862 : seedbed of the American system of public universities."
473:
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Singh, Vineeta. "Inclusion or acquisition? Learning about justice, education, and property from the Morrill Land-Grant Acts."
592:), nearly all of the land-grant colleges are public. (Cornell University, while private, administers several state-supported
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of 1850 called for the creation of an "agricultural school", though it was not until February 12, 1855, that Michigan
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The Morrill Act was first proposed in 1857, and was passed by Congress in 1859, but it was vetoed by President
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Land-grant colleges and popular revolt: The origins of the Morrill Act and the reform of higher education
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which authorized the state to select federal lands in other states to fund its institution. For example,
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796:"Review of The Origin of the Land Grant Act of 1862 and Some Account of Its Author, Jonathan B. Turner"
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of Science and Technology). The first land-grant institution actually created under the Act was
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Science as Service: Establishing and Reformulating American Land-Grant Universities, 1865-1930
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Civil War Congress and the creation of modern America : a revolution on the home front.
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education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life.
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https://govtrackus.s3.amazonaws.com/legislink/pdf/stat/12/STATUTE-12-Pg503a.pdf
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537:, which was established on February 16, 1863, and opened on September 2, 1863.
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which is the first building in the United States to teach agricultural science.
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Curriculum: A History of the American Undergraduate Course of Study Since 1636
864:". MSU University Archives and Historical Collection. Retrieved March 5, 2008.
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that fulfill its public land-grant mission to the state of New York.)
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at the Celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Morrill Act, 2012
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An Audacious Act: How a High School Dropout Helped Educate America
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Agricultural experiment stations and cooperative extension service
19:"Morrill Act" redirects here. For the act regarding polygamy, see
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Celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Morrill Act, at the
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http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/chron/civilwarnotes/morrill.html
844:". Wikisource. Article 13, Section 11. Retrieved March 5, 2008.
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proposed a $ 1.035 billion appropriation for fiscal year 2008.
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USDA Budget Summary 2006 - Research, Education, and Economics
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With a few exceptions (including Cornell University and the
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The second Morrill Act (1890) was also aimed at the former
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were specifically included in the Act's language, meaning
46:
Land-Grant Agricultural and Mechanical College Act of 1862
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History of universities and colleges in the United States
1267:"Text and PDF of original 1862 manuscript of Morrill Act"
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in the United States including the date of the land grant
250:
1198:
Justin Smith Morrill, Father of the Land-Grant Colleges.
1081:"Morrill Act's Contribution to Engineering's Foundation"
929:
873:
Letter from Lyman Trumbull to J.B. Turner, 1857-10-19.
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A radio documentary on the Morrill Land-Grant Acts.
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Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies
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955:John W. Davis, "The Negro Land-Grant College," 2
734:Association of Public and Land-grant Universities
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434:(a land-grant university), is named for Senator
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362:, which served as a model for the Morrill Act.
16:Law allowing the creation of colleges in the US
1340:United States federal public land legislation
1335:United States federal agriculture legislation
1025:. Iowa State University. 2006. Archived from
1023:"History of Iowa State: Time Line, 1858–1874"
887:Cornell University Founders and The Founding
729:Agricultural Experiment Stations Act of 1887
625:historically Black colleges and universities
480:The purpose of the land-grant colleges was:
1162:"CSREES FY2008 President's Budget Proposal"
889:(Cornell University Press 1943), pp. 28–30.
514:carefully selected valuable timber land in
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457:, in honor of the Morrill Land-Grant act.
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657:(sustainable energy research, in 2003).
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1200:Michigan State University Press: 1999.
764:United States Department of Agriculture
665:Starting in 1887, Congress also funded
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1003:from the original on February 28, 2008
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898:"Justin Smith Morrill (1810–1898)" in
632:University of the District of Columbia
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630:Later on, other colleges such as the
590:Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1325:Land-grant universities and colleges
1287:. September 21, 2013. Archived from
855:Milestones of MSU's Sesquicentennial
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540:The land grant colleges transformed
432:University of Maryland, College Park
1079:Williams, Daniel E. (Spring 2009),
438:, in honor of the act he sponsored.
430:Morrill Hall, on the campus of the
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580:. The Act prohibited spending the
235:Tooltip Public Law (United States)
100:Tooltip Public Law (United States)
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1225:(Cornell University Press, 2018)
1049:"The National Schools of Science"
269:that allowed for the creation of
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667:agricultural experiment stations
609:Reserve Officers' Training Corps
303:Agricultural College Act of 1890
293:et seq.) was enacted during the
174:in the Senate as S. 298 by
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989:Whalen, Michael L. (May 2001).
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749:List of land-grant universities
653:(space research, in 1988), and
321:et seq.)) expanded this model.
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566:United States Military Academy
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842:Michigan Constitution of 1850
800:American Journal of Sociology
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645:(aquatic research, in 1966),
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420:most land-grant universities
7:
1320:37th United States Congress
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674:started federal funding of
649:(urban research, in 1985),
525:On September 12, 1862, the
281:(12 Stat. 503 (1862) later
72:37th United States Congress
10:
1356:
957:Journal of Negro Education
407:
18:
1148:December 1, 2007, at the
991:"A Land-Grant University"
794:Dodd, William E. (1911).
470:Michigan State University
365:On February 8, 1853, the
360:Michigan State University
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932:"Land-Grab Universities"
449:, the first building of
325:Passage of original bill
1242:Ohio University Press.
759:Smith-Lever Act of 1914
672:Smith–Lever Act of 1914
535:Kansas State University
453:, is named for Senator
341:Jonathan Baldwin Turner
260:Morrill Land-Grant Acts
202:on June 17, 1862 (
192:on June 10, 1862 (
29:Morrill Land-Grant Acts
21:Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act
996:. Cornell University.
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744:Land-grant university
676:cooperative extension
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410:Land-grant university
385:introduced his bill.
349:Michigan Constitution
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138:7 U.S.C.: Agriculture
1315:1862 in American law
1174:on February 17, 2012
1088:Tau Beta Pi the Bent
754:Manual labor college
651:space grant colleges
647:urban grant colleges
637:In imitation of the
379:Justin Smith Morrill
367:Illinois Legislature
334:Justin Smith Morrill
313:, later codified as
176:Justin Smith Morrill
1291:on November 1, 2013
1065:Frederick Rudolph,
711:James H. Billington
696:Library of Congress
639:land-grant colleges
404:Land-grant colleges
347:. For example, the
299:Morrill Act of 1890
279:Morrill Act of 1862
271:land-grant colleges
163:Legislative history
62:Morrill Act of 1862
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1221:Sorber, Nathan M.
860:2007-08-06 at the
655:sun grant colleges
643:sea grant colleges
621:Confederate states
594:statutory colleges
520:Cornell University
500:American Civil War
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472:marks the site of
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451:Cornell University
440:
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356:Kinsley S. Bingham
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295:American Civil War
150:Later codified as
43:Other short titles
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1206:978-0-87013-508-8
936:High Country News
900:The Latin Library
739:Hatch Act of 1887
546:classical studies
400:on July 2, 1862.
256:
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190:Passed the Senate
112:Statutes at Large
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200:Passed the House
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