Morrill Act

American  

[mawr-il, mor-] / ˈmɔr ɪl, ˈmɒr- /

noun

U.S. History.

1. an act of Congress (1862) granting each state 30,000 acres (12,000 hectares) of land for each member it had in Congress, 90 percent of the gross proceeds of which were to be used for the endowment and maintenance of colleges and universities teaching agricultural and mechanical arts and other subjects.

2. either of two supplementary acts (1890 and 1907) in which Congress made direct financial grants to assist the land-grant colleges and universities.

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Etymology

Origin of Morrill Act

Named after Justin Smith Morrill (1810–98), congressman and senator from Vermont

Example Sentences

The country’s land grant university system was first established in 1862 under the Morrill Act, which gave public lands to states to establish colleges that focused on educating students in agriculture and mechanics.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 24, 2022

MIT was among the nation’s first colleges to benefit from the Morrill Act, an 1862 law that helped create the U.S. public higher education system.

From Washington Times • Oct. 15, 2021

Iowa became the first state to accept the provisions of the original Morrill Act, creating what later became Iowa State University.

From Textbooks • Dec. 30, 2014

He added: “The Marshall Plan was very good, too — the Northwest Ordinance, the Morrill Act – but times change.”

From Time • Feb. 27, 2013

Up to the passage of the Morrill Act a dozen state universities struggled to maintain themselves with meager revenues and few students.

From College Teaching Studies in Methods of Teaching in the College by Klapper, Paul