In 1860, close to 60% of Americans were farmers, making it still the most widespread occupation in the country. Even with new technologies in tools and transportation, agricultural methods were still strikingly similar to those used by farmers of the previous millennium. Horace Greenly of New York, along with Vermont Senator Justin Smith Morrill, the bill’s namesake, were among the first to see the importance science could play in agriculture. They saw how studying the science of agriculture could lead to much more productive methods than crude traditional ones. Previous to the institution of this act, University study was reserved for the white elite, and only provided education in liberal arts for the few that could afford it. Abraham Lincoln believed that education, practical education would be the cornerstone of further American success. Thus he signed the Morrill Land Grant college act in 1862, to provide land for universities that would educate the common man in practical skills, with the most focus on agriculture.
These new state universities allowed for great experimentation in agriculture, and this experimentation has led to the almost exclusively science based agricultural practices that have increased production to the levels we enjoy today. Greenly, Morrill, and Lincoln new that eventually, when the Civil war was over, that the country would need skilled farmers to feed the masses, and that education was the first step in providing the necessary skills that these new age farmers would need.
Sources:
1. http://www.colostate.edu/morrillact/part3.aspx
2. http://www.agclassroom.org/gan/timeline/1860.htm
3. Video: http://www.colostate.edu/morrillact/
Video by Colorado State explaining the act and what it did to get them started:
These new state universities allowed for great experimentation in agriculture, and this experimentation has led to the almost exclusively science based agricultural practices that have increased production to the levels we enjoy today. Greenly, Morrill, and Lincoln new that eventually, when the Civil war was over, that the country would need skilled farmers to feed the masses, and that education was the first step in providing the necessary skills that these new age farmers would need.
Sources:
1. http://www.colostate.edu/morrillact/part3.aspx
2. http://www.agclassroom.org/gan/timeline/1860.htm
3. Video: http://www.colostate.edu/morrillact/
Video by Colorado State explaining the act and what it did to get them started: