Justin Morrill

Vermont representative whose land-grant college act created the American public university system.

Overview

A self-taught storekeeper, Morrill was elected to the House in 1854 and served there until 1867, then in the Senate until 1898. The Morrill Land-Grant College Act of 1862, vetoed earlier by Buchanan, granted federal land to states to fund colleges teaching agriculture and the mechanic arts, launching institutions from Cornell to Ohio State to Texas A and M. He later shepherded a second Morrill Act in 1890 providing cash support and backed the 1872 tariff that bears his name, serving 43 years in Congress in all.