Editing Morrill Land-Grant Acts (section)

==Passage of original bill==
[[Image:Justin Smith Morrill - Brady-Handy.jpg|thumb|left|[[Justin Smith Morrill]]]]

Beginning in the 1830s, a political movement called for the creation of agriculture colleges. The movement was led by Professor [[Jonathan Baldwin Turner]] of [[Illinois College]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dodd |first=William E. |date=1911 |title=Review of The Origin of the Land Grant Act of 1862 and Some Account of Its Author, Jonathan B. Turner |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2763175 |journal=American Journal of Sociology |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=406–407 |doi=10.1086/211983 |jstor=2763175 |issn=0002-9602}}</ref> For example, the [[Michigan Constitution]] of 1850 called for the creation of an "agricultural school",<ref>"[[s:Michigan Constitution of 1850|Michigan Constitution of 1850]]". Wikisource. Article 13, Section 11. Retrieved March 5, 2008.</ref> though it was not until February 12, 1855, that Michigan [[List of Governors of Michigan|governor]] [[Kinsley S. Bingham]] signed a bill establishing the United States' first agriculture college, the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, known today as [[Michigan State University]], which served as a model for the Morrill Act.<ref name="sesquicentennial">"[http://www.msu.edu/unit/msuarhc/articlepg1.htm Milestones of MSU's Sesquicentennial] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070806233601/http://www.msu.edu/unit/msuarhc/articlepg1.htm |date=2007-08-06 }}". MSU University Archives and Historical Collection. Retrieved March 5, 2008.</ref>

On February 8, 1853, the [[Illinois Legislature]] adopted a [[Resolution (law)|resolution]], drafted by Turner, calling for the Illinois congressional delegation to work to enact a land-grant bill to fund a system of industrial colleges, one in each state. Senator [[Lyman Trumbull]] of Illinois believed it was advisable that the bill should be introduced by an eastern congressman,<ref>Letter from Lyman Trumbull to J.B. Turner, 1857-10-19.</ref> and two months later Representative [[Justin Smith Morrill]] of [[Vermont]] introduced his bill.

Unlike the Turner Plan, which provided an equal grant to each state, the Morrill bill allocated land based on the number of senators and representatives each state had in Congress. This was more advantageous to the more populous eastern states.<ref>[[Carl L. Becker]], ''Cornell University Founders and The Founding'' (Cornell University Press 1943), pp. 28–30.</ref>

The Morrill Act was first proposed in 1857, and was passed by Congress in 1859, but it was vetoed by President [[James Buchanan]]. In 1861, Morrill resubmitted the act with the amendment that the proposed institutions would teach military tactics as well as engineering and agriculture.<ref>"Justin Smith Morrill (1810–1898)" in ''The Latin Library'' http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/chron/civilwarnotes/morrill.html.</ref> Aided by the secession of many states that did not support the plans, the reconfigured Morrill Act was signed into law by President [[Abraham Lincoln]] on July 2, 1862.