On this day in 1862, Rep. Lot Morrill (R-VT) won passage of his Land Grant College Act by the Republican-controlled 37th Congress. The law established colleges and universities throughout the United States. Federal land would be distributed to state institutions of higher learning. By law, they would be open to African-Americans as well as whites. The University of Illinois and Iowa State University are among the dozens of institutions to benefit from the GOP's Land Grant College Act.
Lot Morrill would later be elected to the U.S. Senate and then would serve as Secretary of the Treasury in the Ulysses Grant administration.
The Republican National Committee re-published this article on the RNC website.
Michael Zak is a popular speaker to Republican organizations around the country. Back to Basics for the Republican Party is his acclaimed history of the GOP, cited by Clarence Thomas in a Supreme Court decision. He is also the author of the 2005 Republican Freedom Calendar. His Grand Old Partisan website celebrates more than fifteen decades of Republican heroes and heroics.