at Montpelier in honor of the birth of Morrill. On that occasion the governor of the state of Vermont, a United States senator, and other well known men paid homage to the virtues of the man and his abilities as a statesman.31

31These and other addresses have been published and for this reason it has seemed unnecessary to give more extended account of Morrill in this volume.

CHAPTER VII

SEMINARY AND COLLEGE FUNDS AND VARIOUS AT

TEMPTS TO ESTABLISH AN AGRICULTURAL

COLLEGE OR STATE UNIVERSITY
IN ILLINOIS

Federal land grants for the purpose of higher education have come to be considered an integral part of the national policy. A study of the motives prompting these grants reveals the unflattering truth that, contrary to the general belief, federal aid to higher education was not the result of the beneficent foresight of our first congressmen, but was, in fact, the outcome of a rather clever bargain between a private land company and an unwilling congress, forced to yield to its purchasers' demands through sheer necessity. In other words, the precedents for land grants by the federal government for higher educational purposes had their origin in the land sales of 1787.1 This subject of public land disposal was closely connected with questions of government with which the congress was then struggling.

The temporary government for the northwest territory which had been provided in 1784 had proved inadequate in many ways, and therefore in 1786 plans for a new and permanent arrangement were brought before congress. Discussion on the bill lagged for the reason that the enthusiasm of congress had been lessened somewhat by the inactivity of land sales and the consequent effect on immigration. The question, however, took on new force and significance when a memorial was presented to congress from a number of influential New England men connected with the Ohio land company. The originators of this organization were Generals Rufus Putnam and Benjamin Tupper both of whom had been interested for some time in the questions of

"Treat, The National Land System, 265-270 and Knight, Land Grant for Education in the Northwest Territory uphold this view. See also American Historical Association, Papers, vol. 1, No. 3, p. 17, 18.

western immigration and public grants of land. They issued a call through the newspapers of New England, inviting delegates to meet at the Bunch of Grapes tavern, Boston, on March 1, 1786. At this meeting the Ohio company was formed for the purpose of purchasing a large tract of land in the Ohio territory, and settling it with good, New England stock. During the year, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, one-fourth of the stock of the company, was subscribed. This sum was considered sufficient to insure the success of the company; therefore the stockholders at a meeting in March, 1787, elected Samuel Holden Parsons, Manasseh Cutler, and Rufus Putnam directors, with full power to negotiate with congress for the purchase of the desired lands. Parsons drew up a memorial in which he set forth the desires and proposals of the company. It was presented to congress in May, and was immediately referred to a special committee.3

This memorial of the Ohio company and the energetic work of Cutler, who reached New York on the fifth of July, moved congress to take up again the discussion of the bill for a permanent organization of the western territory. Aroused by the prospect of a large sale if a satisfactory form of government should be provided, congress speedily took up the measure and referred it to a new committee. The presence of Cutler, together with the assurance that if his plans matured, immigration into the western territory was practically certain, gave new life to the delayed bill, which finally passed on the thirteenth of July, and became the governmental instrument of the northwest territory.

This important work disposed of, congress was free to consider Cutler's plans for a purchase of land. The committee in charge reported favorably on the terms suggested, which among other things, provided for a reservation of four townships for a seminary of learning within the purchase, but congress considered this too much and consequently omitted mention of it in an ordinance reported July 19th. Cutler, however, strongly felt the desirability of a provision of this sort, and therefore subCutler, Life Journal and Correspondence, 1: 180, 192.

'Bancroft, History of the Formation of the Constitution, 2: 109.

mitted a new offer which provided, besides lot sixteen for maintenance of schools and lot twenty-nine for purposes of religion, for "two townships near the centre of the second specified tract which comprehends the purchase amounting to the first-mentioned million of dollars, and of good land to be also given by congress for the support of a literary institution, to be applied to the intended object by the legislature of the state."4 Congress again objected but when Cutler expressed his intention of leaving New York, of giving up his plan of buying land from congress and of purchasing from one of the states instead, members of congress prevailed on him to remain and promised to meet his demands. In making this decision they took into account the desirability of opening up western lands and of stimulating immigration, the government's need for the money which would result from the sale of this six million five hundred thousand acres of land and especially the fear that Cutler would fulfill his threat and buy from the older states. In view of these possibilities congress passed an ordinance on July 23, 1787, in which the Board of the treasury was ordered to contract with the Ohio company for the land desired. The resulting contract secured. to the Ohio company two townships within the purchase for the perpetual support of a seminary of learning and it is the first provision made by the federal government for that purpose. The credit of this important precedent would seem to belong entirely to the first board of directors of the Ohio company, and especially to their able lobbyist, Manasseh Cutler. The farreaching significance of the precedent may only be realized by a consideration of it in the light of its subsequent importance to higher education in the different states.

The federal grant of two townships thus secured for the Ohio company was handed over to the state of Ohio on her ad

'At this time Cutler was prevailed upon by certain influential men to include secretly in his purchase offer the much larger offer of another company. In this way one million five hundred thousand acres of the Ohio company and an option of five million acres for the Sciota company were secured. Bancroft, History of the Formation of the Constitution, 2: 436. "Cutler, Life Journal and Correspondence, 1: 303-305.

mission to the union in 1802. The methods used for securing similar grants for other new states differed from time to time. to fit conditions, but whatever the method used in making the grant, or whatever the amount of land obtained, the fact of federal aid to higher education through land grants remained constant.

The history of the Illinois seminary fund itself, dates back to 1804 when Indiana territory was divided into three land districts, in each of which one township was reserved for a seminary of learning. As the population increased these three land districts, Vincennes, Kaskaskia, and Detroit, were formed into the territories of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, and the townships set aside in each of the land districts were likewise reserved in the territorial enactments. On the admission of Illinois into the union in 1818, the land reserved for the Kaskaskia land district in 1804 and one additional township were granted the new state and the control of both tracts was turned over to the state legislature. Thus seventy-two sections to be devoted to higher education, were granted to Illinois by the federal government and the fund accruing from this source came to be known as the seminary fund.

The township first set aside for Illinois was Township 5 N., Range 1 W. 3d P. M. in Fayette county. In 1821 the auditor was instructed to lease this land but, situated as it was in the Okaw bottoms, a large part covered with lakes and swamps, it is little wonder that he found this order impossible of execution. In 1823 the general assembly, profiting by their experience with the first township, asked the president that the second township be

"When Ohio was admitted she received three townships from the federal government, two of which had been given the Ohio company in 1787 and one of which was given in fulfillment of the Symmes contract. This however was considered an exception and did not affect the precedent established in 1787.

"Annals of Congress, 1803-1804, p. 1288.

Enabling act in Annals of Congress, 1818, p. 2546. "Fourth. That thirty-six sections, or one entire township, which shall be designated by the President of the United States, together with the one heretofore reserved for that purpose, shall be reserved for the use of a seminary of learning, and vested in the Legislature of said State, to be appropriated solely to the use of such seminary by the said Legislature.

'Laws of 1821 p. 60.