Section 03 · 3 pages
Thirty thousand acres a seat
The Morrill Acts and what they built.
Congress did not fund the land-grant colleges with money. It granted each state federal land in proportion to its seats in Congress and left the state to sell it, which is why the endowments that resulted differ so widely. These pages follow the Act of 1862, the market in scrip that turned it into cash, and the second Act of 1890.
- 03.1Thirty thousand acres a seat
The 1862 Morrill Act funded colleges by granting federal land in proportion to congressional representation, and the land was elsewhere.
- 03.2Where the acreage went, state by state
The grants were sold rather than settled, and tracing what was sold and to whom is a documented and uncomfortable history.
- 03.3The second Morrill Act, and the institutions it created
The 1890 Act extended the settlement on segregated terms and founded a distinct group of institutions that still exist.
The Carnegie unit, and the degree assembled from it.
Accreditation as a private function.
How rankings are actually made.