Morrill Land-Grant Acts

Morrill Land-Grant Acts

Other short titles	Land-Grant Agricultural and Mechanical College Act of 1862
Long title	An Act donating Public Lands to the several States and Territories which may provide Colleges for the Benefit of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts.
Nicknames	Morrill Act of 1862
Enacted by	the 37th United States Congress
Effective	July 2, 1862
Citations
Public law	Pub. L. 37–130
Statutes at Large	12 Stat. 503
Codification
Titles amended	7 U.S.C.: Agriculture
U.S.C. sections created	Later codified as 7 U.S.C. ch. 13 § 301 et seq.
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as S. 298 by Justin Smith Morrill (R–VT) on May 5, 1862 Passed the Senate on June 10, 1862 (32-7) Passed the House on June 17, 1862 (91-25) Signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on July 2, 1862
Major amendments
Pub. L. 51–841, 26 Stat. 417, enacted August 30, 1890

The Morrill Land-Grant Acts are United States statutes that allowed for the creation of land-grant colleges in U.S. states using the proceeds from sales of federally owned land, often obtained from Native American tribes through treaty, cession, or seizure. The Morrill Act of 1862 (12 Stat. 503 (1862)^[1] later codified as 7 U.S.C. § 301 et seq.) was enacted during the American Civil War, and the Morrill Act of 1890 (the Agricultural College Act of 1890 (26 Stat. 417, later codified as 7 U.S.C. § 321 et seq.)) expanded this model.