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Transcript of Morrill Act (1862)
Chap. CXXX.--AN ACT Donating Public Lands to the veral States and Territories which may provide Colleges for the Benefit of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts.
Be it enacted by the Senate and Hou of Reprentatives of the United States of America in Congress asmbled, That there be granted to the veral States, for the purpos hereinafter mentioned, an amount of public land, to be apportioned to each State a quantity equal to thirty thousand acres for each nator and reprentative 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 lected or purchad 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 veral States in ctions or subdivisions of ctions, not less than one
quarter of a ction; 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 lected 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 of its distributive share: said scrip to be sold by said States and the proceeds thereof applied to the us and purpos prescribed in this act, and for no other u or purpo whatsoever: Provided, That in no ca 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 the expens of management, superintendence, and taxes from date of lection of said lands, previous to their sales, and all expens incurred in the management and disburment 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 purpos 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 ction 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 exclud
ing 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 class in the veral 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 asnt of the veral States shall be signified by legislative acts:
First. If any portion of the fund invested, as provided by the foregoing ction, 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 purpos mentioned in the fourth ction 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 purcha 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 pretence whatever, to the purcha, erection, prervation, 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 from the time of its acceptance as provided in subdivision ven of this ction, at least not less than one college, as described in the fourth ction of this act, or the grant to such State shall cea; and said State shall be bound to pay the United States the amount received of any lands previously sold; and that the title to purchars 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 mat
ters, including State industrial and economical statistics, as may be suppod uful; 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.
