Morrill Acts

The Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890 provided funding for the establishment of land grant colleges and universities in the United States. Under the Morrill Act of 1862, each state received 30,000 acres of land for each senator and representative in the House of Representatives it had been awarded by the census of 1860. States were then able to sell the land and create trust funds to finance educational programming. Thus, the act not only made land available for homesteaders who would help to populate expanding parts of the United States but also provided some funding for states to establish colleges and universities. The Morrill Land Grant Act of 1890, also known as the Agricultural College Act of 1890, provided greater funding for the schools ...