U.S. Department of Education

Early Federal Influence on Education

Under the language of the U.S. Constitution, the federal government reserved no control over education. Indeed, according to the Tenth Amendment, “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Thus, the early structure of the federal government did not include an agency to address education.

The Tenth Amendment notwithstanding, the federal government has used various pieces of legislation to influence education law and policy while encouraging the creation of schools at all levels to promote curricula that support initiatives of national importance. For example, while still operating under the Articles of Confederation in 1785, Congress adopted a policy that reserved land in each township as an endowment for the development of schools. Likewise, the Northwest Ordinance, which was enacted in 1787, provided support to higher education by giving land to townships to establish a university for the territory that later became the State of Ohio. This serves as the first example of federal higher education policy.

Even after the adoption of the Constitution, the federal government continued to find ways of influencing education. Although the United States repeatedly refused to establish a federal university, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point was created in 1802. Along with the other military academies, it fulfills a national mission by assisting with the training and maintenance of a standing army and other defense forces. Soon thereafter, Congress directed that 15% of the money earned from selling federal lands go to support schools in new states.

Focusing specifically on higher education, the federal government used the sale of land to encourage college and university development. In 1862, the first Morrill Act provided federal land to both new and existing states to sell and use the proceeds to support the creation or expansion of higher education. In addition, the federal government relied on the First Morrill Act to encourage greater emphasis on and access to certain curricular foci, such as mechanical arts, agriculture, military training, liberal education, and practical preparation, thus creating the land grant institutions. Later, through the Hatch Act of 1887, Congress expanded [Page 522]its support of higher education as a means of improving agriculture and food production by providing land grants to fund experiment stations and distribute new knowledge about growth and soil management techniques throughout the states. In many cases, the states used their land grant higher education institutions to house, manage, and deliver the services required under the Hatch Act. Later, the Second Morrill Act, passed as the Agricultural College Act of 1890, provided federal subsidies to further support agriculture research and teaching in higher education.

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