Morrill Act

[ mawr-il, mor- ]

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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Morrill Act¹

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

Example Sentences

The project started following a series of reports in the publication High Country News in 2020 revealing how universities around the country were founded on the proceeds of land that was taken from tribes through the 1862 Morrill Act.

From Washington Times

The project started following a series of reports in the publication High Country News in 2020 revealing how universities around the country were founded on the proceeds of land that was taken from tribes through the 1862 Morrill Act.

From Seattle Times

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

In 1890, the Second Morrill Act established 19 public universities for Black students in former Confederate states and incorporated them into the land-grant university system.

From Seattle Times

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