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Morrill Land Grant College
Act
December 2, 1861
Thirty-seventh Congress of the United States of America;
At the Second Session
Begun and held at the city of Washington,
on Monday the Second day of December, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one
AN ACT
Donating public lands to the several States and Territories
which may provide colleges
for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress as assembled,
That of its distributive share: said scrip to be sold by said States
and the proceeds thereof there be granted to the several States, for the
purposes hereinafter mentioned, an amount of public land, to be apportioned
to each State a quantity equal to thirty thousand acres for each Senator
and Representative in Congress to which the States are respectively entitled by the apportionment under the census of eighteen
hundred and sixty: Provided, That no mineral lands shall be selected or purchased
under the provisions of this act.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the land aforesaid, after
being surveyed, shall be apportioned to the several States in sections
or subdivisions of sections, not less than one-quarter of a section; and
whenever there are public lands in a State subject to sale at private
entry at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, the quantity to which
said State shall be entitled shall be selected from such lands within
the limits of such State, and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby
directed to issue to each of the States in which there is not the quantity
of public lands subject to sale at private entry at one dollar and twenty-five
cents per acre, to which said State may be entitled under the provisions
of this act, land scrip to the amount in acres for the deficiency applied
to the uses and purposes prescribed in this act, and for no other use
or purpose whatsoever: Provided, That in no case shall any State to which
land scrip may thus be issued be allowed to locate the same within the
limits of any other State, or of any Territory of the United States, but
their assignees may thus locate said land scrip upon any of the unappropriated
lands of the United States subject to sale at private entry at one dollar
and twenty-five cents, or less, per acre: And provided, further, That
not more than one million acres shall be located by such assignees in
any one of the States: And provided, further, That no such location shall
be made before one year from the passage of this act.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That all expenses of management,
superintendence, and taxes from date of selection of said lands, previous
to their sales, and all expenses incurred in the management and disbursement
of the moneys which may be received therefrom, shall be paid by the States
to which they may belong, out of the treasury of said States, so that
the entire proceeds of the sale of said lands shall be applied without
any diminution whatever to the purposes hereinafter mentioned.
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That all moneys derived from
the sale of the lands aforesaid by the States to which the lands are apportioned,
and from the sales of land scrip hereinbefore provided for, shall be invested
in stocks of the United States, or of the States, or some other safe stocks,
yielding not less than five per centum upon the par value of said stocks;
and that the moneys so invested shall constitute a perpetual fund, the
capital of which shall remain forever undiminished, (except so far as
may be provided in section fifth of this act,) and the interest of which
shall be inviolably appropriated, by each State which may take and claim
the benefit of this act, to the endowment, support, and maintenance of
at least one college where the leading object shall be, without excluding
other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics,
to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the
mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the States may respectively
prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of
the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life.
Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the grant of land and
land scrip hereby authorized shall be made on the following conditions,
to which, as well as to the provisions hereinbefore contained, the previous
assent of the several States shall be signified by legislative acts: First.
If any portion of the und invested, as provided by the foregoing section,
or any portion of the interest thereon, shall, by any action or contingency,
be diminished or lost, it shall be replaced by the State to which it belongs,
so that the capital of the fund shall remain forever undiminished; and
the annual interest shall be regularly applied without diminution to the
purposes mentioned in the fourth section of this act, except that a sum,
not exceeding ten per centum upon the amount received by any State under
the provisions of this act, may be expended for the purchase of lands
for sites or experimental farms, whenever authorized by the respective
legislatures of said States. Second. No portion of said fund, nor the
interest thereon, shall be applied. directly or indirectly, under any
pretense whatever, to the purchase, erection, preservation, or repair
of any building or buildings. Third. Any State which may take and claim
the benefit of the provisions of this act shall provide, within five years,
at least not less than one college, as described in the fourth section
of this act, or the grant to such State shall cease; and said State shall
be bound to pay the United States the amount received of any lands previously
sold. and that the title to purchasers under the State shall be valid.
Fourth. An annual report shall be made regarding the progress of each
college, recording any improvements and experiments made, with their cost
and results, and such other matters, including State industrial and economical
statistics, as may be supposed useful; one copy of which shall be transmitted
by mail free, by each, to all the other colleges which may be endowed
under the provisions of this act, and also one copy to the Secretary of
the Interior. Fifth. When lands shall be selected from those which have
been raised to double the minimum price, in consequence of railroad grants,
they shall be computed to the States at the maximum price, and the number
of acres proportionately diminished. Sixth. No State while in a condition
of rebellion or insurrection against the Government of the United States
shall be entitled to the benefit of this act. Seventh. No State shall
be entitled to the benefits of this act unless it shall express its acceptance
thereof by its legislature within two years from the date of its approval
by the President.
Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That land scrip is- sued under
the provisions of this act shall not be subject to location until after
the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That the land officers shall
receive the same fees for locating land scrip issued under the provisions
of this act as is now allowed for the location of military bounty land
warrants under existing laws; Provided, That their maximum compensation
shall not be thereby increased.
Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That the governors of the several
States to which scrip shall be issued under this act shall be required
to report annually to Congress all sales made of such scrip until the
whole shall be disposed of, the amount received for the same, and what
appropriation has been made of the proceeds.
Galusha A. Grow
Speaker of the House of Representatives
Solomon Foot
President of the Senate pro tempore
Abraham Lincoln
Approved July 2, 1862.
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