In this exhibit you can learn about the new system of higher education created by the Morrill Act of 1862, which used proceeds from Native lands in the West to fund agricultural and mechanical colleges throughout the United States. By Kenny Barnes.
VIRGINIA AND THE MORRILL ACT OF 1862
The landscape of higher education in Virginia was drastically smaller prior to the Civil War and the passage of the Morrill Act of 1862. Into the 1850s, the state had two public institutions of higher learning. The University of Virginia was home to a liberal arts college, as well as a law and medical school. The other, VMI, trained students in military tactics and engineering. Both schools received financial assistance through the state’s Literary Fund, with UVA receiving $15,000 and VMI receiving $7,500 annually. In return for the Literary Fund annuity, these schools offered free tuition to one student from each senatorial district who agreed to teach in Virginia’s public school system for 2 years after graduation.
View of University of Virginia and Charlottesville, 1856. Image courtesy of the University of Virginia Special Collections.
These schools had another thing in common in addition to being the only 2 universities in Virginia to receive state support- only white men were permitted to attend. For women and people of color, the options for post secondary education were restricted to private schools, where choices were either limited, or non-existent in pre-war Virginia. When the Morrill Act restructured education nationwide in 1862, Virginia along with its fellow Confederate states were in open rebellion against the Union. The act specified that “No state while in a condition of rebellion or insurrection against the government of the United States shall be entitled to the benefit of this act,” so Virginia was not even eligible to receive benefits until it had officially rejoined the Union. The Civil War dominated the focus of southern legislatures at the time, and most Virginia lawmakers only learned the smaller details of the Morrill Act in December of 1865, when it was discussed at Virginia’s first post war legislative session. So little was known about the act that 500 copies of the act were printed and circulated in the House of Delegates so legislators could learn more about its benefits and terms.
Ruins of Richmond in front of the Capital building caused by a Confederate attempt to burn the city during their evacuation in 1865. Photo courtesy of US National Archives.
States had the option to direct Morrill Act benefits to existing schools rather than create a new one, so legislatures had to judge bids from various existing institutions for Morrill Act funds. Foremost on their minds was the location of the school relative to the devastated state capitol. Governor Francis Pierpont believed that VMI was the strongest candidate, an existing institution willing to relocate to Richmond following the destruction of the campus by Union soldiers in 1864. Like VMI, the state's capital had been devasted by the war and Pierpont believed a new school there could help contribute to rebuilidng efforts. At that first legislative session in December of 1865, VMI had already prepared a bid for the Morrill Act money. Later on in the session, multiple strong offers were made by schools willing to relocate and contribute to Richmond’s rebuilding. However, legislators were unable to decide which school should receive land-grant status since numerous Virginia schools made strong and comparable bids.
At the next legislative session in the winter of 1866-67, lawmakers were no longer concerned with the school relocating to Richmond, and the field of candidates grew even larger, with William and Mary, Richmond College, Hampden-Sydney College, and UVA raising the list of potential recipients to seven. While the options grew numerous, some lawmakers were not convinced that any were the right fit. William Henry Ruffner advised the legislature to create a new school rather than grant land-grant status to an existing institution. Ruffner was no stranger to higher education. From Lexington, VA, he was familiar with both VMI and Washington College (now Washington and Lee) administrators. His father was a past president of Washington College and William himself had served as UVA’s chaplain. Despite these intimate ties, Ruffner believed that a new institution would make the best use of the Morrill Act funds, a belief he shared with VA delegate William Sutherlin. Despite the abundance of options, no decision was made at the 67-68 session. Even if one had, Virginia did not meet the requirements for full political restoration until 1870 and only then did they qualify for Morrill Act benefits.
William Henry Ruffer was the first superindendent of Virginia's public school system and served on VAMCs first Board of Visitors. Photo courtesy of Virginia Encylopedia.
At the same time in the winter of 70-71, trustees of the Olin and Preston Institute, a small private Methodist school in Blacksburg, VA, made the decision to make a claim to Virginia’s Morrill Act funds. The school had fallen on dire financial times following the Civil War and moral schisms within the administration, and leaders made the decision that the school had to be given away in order to survive. They offered the state the opportunity to take over the school and reestablish it as its land grant university. This opportunity to recreate the school in whatever image legislators envisioned is exactly what state delegate Sutherlin had in mind when he argued for the creation of a new institution. While the school would at first focus on “purely agricultural and mechanical” curriculum in accordance with the Morrill Act’s specifications, Sutherlin believed that it would eventually grow into whatever type of institute that Virginia needed.
The Preston and Olin Institute building, 1872.
The ten-year time limit on Morrill Act funds was quickly approaching, and in 1872, lawmakers introduced a resolution in the Virginia legislature. In 1871, they had agreed to allocate ⅓ of the funds to Hampton Institute and ⅔ to a white institution. In the vote for which white school would be granted land-grant status, several colleges withdrew and offered their support to the Preston and Olin Institute in Montgomery County, which went on to receive the support of both the Virginia Senate and the House. The measure was officially signed into law by Governor Walker on March 19, 1872 and Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College opened its doors in the fall of the same year.
