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Prologue

A hundred and fifty years ago, Congress passed the Morrill Land Grant Act—the historic legislation that paved the way for the creation of Cornell and dozens of other institutions of higher learning. Kammen, the Tompkins County historian, chronicles the passions and politics behind the selection of New York State’s land-grant school, as two sites jockeyed […]

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A hundred and fifty years ago, Congress passed the Morrill Land Grant Act—the historic legislation that paved the way for the creation of Cornell and dozens of other institutions of higher learning. Kammen, the Tompkins County historian, chronicles the passions and politics behind the selection of New York State’s land-grant school, as two sites jockeyed for the funds. The effort brought together the State Senate’s youngest and oldest members—Andrew Dickson White and Ezra Cornell—who combined their resources to create the university on the Hill.

150 years ago, the Morrill Land Grant Act paved the way for Cornell

By Carol Kammen

Cornell University was chartered in 1865 and opened its doors in 1868, but the law that was vital in allowing it to come into being is celebrating its sesquicentennial this year. It had a long and difficult birth.

In 1857, proponents introduced the Morrill Land Grant Act in Congress, only to have it opposed by states' rights advocates who stalled its passage until 1859. President James Buchanan then vetoed the act on the grounds that the federal government had never supported education—and in a time of economic weakness, putting so much land on the market might depress prices even more.

Justin Smith Morrill

The Morrill Act was based on two strong foundations. One was the statement in the Northwest Ordinance, passed by the Continental Congress in 1787, that "knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." Its other underpinning arose from those who sought to reform or broaden higher education to include the study of agriculture. Simeon DeWitt—who named, owned, and sold land in Ithaca—broached the idea of agricultural education in an 1819 essay entitled Considerations on the Necessity of Establishing an Agricultural College, and having more of the children of wealthy citizens educated for the profession of farming. Others took up the cause of agricultural education, and in 1861 backers approached Justin Smith Morrill, U.S. Representative from Vermont, to re-introduce the bill to which his name was affixed.

The 37th Congress, consisting of those states that remained in the Union, accomplished more than one might expect with the nation embroiled in a war. It passed the Homestead Act, the Pacific Railway Act, and the Morrill Land Grant Act—which donated public lands to the states and territories in order to provide "colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the Mechanic arts." Military science was added, as the Union faced not only the Civil War but also a continuing need for trained military officers. President Abraham Lincoln signed the bill into law on July 2, 1862.

For the federal government, the Morrill Act was primarily about land. The government held too much of it, especially in the mid- and trans-Mississippi West. By donating this land to the states, it could promote the growth of population, which meant greater economic activity and revenues, and—with larger populations—increased state power in Congress.

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A straight giveaway, however, was unthinkable. A pattern had been established by both the Northwest Ordinance and New York State's 1790 Military Tract (when land was given to veterans of the Revolutionary War) that designated land to be sold to promote education in each new town. The Morrill Act rested on the same principle, requiring the proceeds of the sale of federal land to promote education—but different from the traditional curriculum based on ancient languages, mathematics, and Christian and moral philosophy.

There was a wrinkle to this new legislation: the eastern states that had begun as colonies contained little or no federal land. How could they benefit from the Morrill Act—especially since the representatives from these most populous states dominated Congress?

The answer was simple, although tricky. Since no state could hold land in another sovereign state, older states such as New York would be given scrip—the buyer entitled to locate and sell federal lands in the newer states. They would then use payment for the scrip to sponsor agricultural and mechanical arts education.

New York State benefited greatly because it had the largest population in the nation, with thirty-three members in Congress. Based on the formula of 30,000 acres of land for each representative, New York received the greatest amount of land, about one-tenth of the total grant—some 989,920 acres in all. (As Morris Bishop 1913, PhD '26, pointed out in his History of Cornell, that figure "comes out eighty acres short.") To receive this land, New York needed to accept the grant, which it did on March 4, 1863.

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