Research Guides: Higher Education Administration (HEA) Guide: Morrill Act

The Morrill Act

Known formally as the Land-Grant College Act of 1862 This link opens in a new window, the Morrill Act provided funding to states to finance colleges specializing in agriculture and the mechanic arts. While this resulted in the building of many colleges, a later iteration in 1890 also created institutions of higher education that catered to many new demographics of student, including Black and American Indian colleges. For more background information, scroll down to explore primary and secondary resources on this event.

Primary Sources

The Morrill Act of 1862 This link opens in a new window
Presents the text of the Morrill Act of 1862. Donation of public lands for the creation of colleges to study agriculture; Appropriation of lands to the States; Other statements.

Secondary Sources

There is great value in reading a variety of perspectives on a subject, and this legislation is no exception. Here you will find articles written in the sixties, present-day, and by a diverse set of authors. Notice that while higher education was changed indefinitely by this event, whether for good or ill is highly debated.

The Morrill Act and Education This link opens in a new window
Adapted from a lecture given by Gordon C. Lee at the centennial of the first Land-Grant College Act of 1862.
The Agricultural Education Origins of the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862 This link opens in a new window
Abstract: The article examines the agricultural education origins of the U.S. Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862. According to the author, the agricultural origins of the Act can be associated with the American Revolution. They were said to be manifested in the struggle for the establishment of a Department of Agriculture and in the movement toward agricultural education. The creation of the Act by Vermont Representative Justin S. Morrill was intended to open college doors to the children of farmers.
The Morrill Act as Racial Contract: Settler Colonialism and U.S. Higher Education This link opens in a new w
Abstract: The Morrill Act of 1862 established agricultural and mechanical arts colleges by granting public lands to states to promote the liberal and practical education of (white, male, Christian) U.S. citizens of average means. In this paper, I use Charles Mills’ (1997) Racial Contract framework and Patrick Wolfe’s (2007) concept of corpus nullius to situate the Morrill Act in a white supremacist political system that intimately entwined settler-colonial expansion, agricultural knowledge production, and the founding of U.S. public higher education through creation of the land-grant universities.
Myths, Erasure, and Violence: The Immoral Triad of the Morrill Act This link opens in a new window
Published in the Journal of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAIS), this article offers a unique perspective on the Morrill Act.
The Politics of the Morrill Act This link opens in a new window
Published in 1963 by the Agricultural History Society, this article provides a neat, historical layout of the political situation surrounding the Morrill Act.

Other Resources

Land-Grant Colleges and Popular Revolt by Nathan M. Sorber This link opens in a new window
ISBN: 9781501709739
Publication Date: 2018
Sorber's history of the movement and society of the time provides an original framework for understanding the origins of the land-grant colleges and the nationwide development of these schools into the twentieth century.