Justin Smith Morrill (April 14, 1810–December 28, 1898) was an American politician and entrepreneur who represented Vermont in the United States House of Representatives (1855–1867) and United States Senate (1867–1898). He is most widely remembered for Morrill Land-Grant Acts that provided federal funding for establishing many of the United States' public colleges and universities following a movement led by Jonathan Baldwin Turner. He is also remembered for the Morrill Tariff. Originally a Whig, after that party became defunct Morrill was one of the founders of the Republican Party.[1]
A native of Strafford, Vermont, Morrill was educated in the schools of Strafford, Thetford Academy and Randolph Academy. He worked as a merchant's clerk in Maine and Vermont, then embarked on a business career. In partnership with Jedediah H. Harris, Morrill owned and operated several stores in towns throughout Vermont.[2] The success of his stores enabled Morrill to invest profitably in a farm, banks, railroads, and real estate.
Morrill was active in politics as a Whig, and was elected to Congress in 1854. The party became defunct soon afterwards, and Morrill was a founder of the new Republican Party. He won reelection to the U.S. House every two years from 1856 to 1864, and he served from March 1857 to March 1867. During his House service, Morrill served as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and the House Republican Conference.
In 1866, Morrill was elected to the U.S. Senate, and he served from March 1867 until his death. During his Senate career, Morrill was chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and the Joint Committee on Public Buildings. Morrill died in Washington, D.C., on December 28, 1898. He was buried at Strafford Cemetery.
Early life
Morrill was born in Strafford, Vermont, on April 14, 1810, the son of Mary Hunt (Proctor) Morrill and Nathaniel Morrill, a farmer, blacksmith, and militia leader who attained the rank of colonel.[3] Morrill attended the common schools of Strafford, Thetford Academy and Randolph Academy.[4] He then trained for a business career by working as a merchant's clerk in Strafford and Portland, Maine. [4] He then was a merchant in Strafford, and the partnership in which he participated with Judge Jedediah H. Harris grew to own and operate four stores throughout the state.[5] Morrill also served in local offices including Town Auditor and Justice of the Peace.[6]
One of Judge Harris's daughters married Portus Baxter, who also served in Congress. Baxter and Morrill became close friends as a result of the connection to Judge Harris, with Morrill referring to Baxter as "one of nature's noblemen" and Baxter consciously patterning his business and political career on Morrill's.[7]
Morrill invested in several successful ventures, including banks, railroads, and real estate.[8] By the late 1840s he was financially secure enough to retire, and he became a gentleman farmer.[8]
In addition to farming, Morrill became active in the Whig Party, including serving as chairman of the Orange County Whig Committee, a member of the Vermont State Whig Committee, and a Delegate to the 1852 Whig National Convention.[9]
Congressional career
Justin Smith Morrill (pictured between 1865 and 1880)
The Morrill Tariff of 1861 was a protective tariff law adopted on March 2, 1861. Passed after anti-tariff southerners had left Congress during the process of secession, Morrill designed it with the advice of Pennsylvania economist Henry C. Carey.[13] It was one of the last acts signed into law by James Buchanan, and replaced the Tariff of 1857.[14] Additional tariffs Morrill sponsored were passed to raise revenue during the American Civil War.[15]
Morrill is best known for sponsoring the Morrill Act, also known as the Land Grant College Act. This act was signed into law by Abraham Lincoln in 1862, and established federal funding for higher education in every state of the country. In his own words:
This bill proposes to establish at least one college in every State upon a sure and perpetual foundation, accessible to all, but especially to the sons of toil, where all of needful science for the practical avocations of life shall be taught, where neither the higher graces of classical studies nor that military drill our country now so greatly appreciates will be entirely ignored, and where agriculture, the foundation of all present and future prosperity, may look for troops of earnest friends, studying its familiar and recondite economies, and at last elevating it to that higher level where it may fearlessly invoke comparison with the most advanced standards of the world.
—Justin Smith Morrill, 1862, as quoted by William Belmont Parker, The Life and Public Services of Justin Smith Morrill
While serving in the U.S. House, Morrill secured passage of legislation to establish the National Statuary Hall Collection inside the United States Capitol.[19] Under the provisions of this 1864 law, each state is permitted to provide two statues of noteworthy citizens for display inside the Capitol.[19]
The Land Grant College Acts ultimately led to the founding of 106 colleges including many state universities, polytechnic colleges, and agricultural and mechanical colleges.[21]
Personal life
Mausoleum of Senator Justin Smith Morrill in Strafford, Vermont
Morrill died in Washington, D.C. on December 28, 1898.[28] He was buried at Strafford Cemetery.[29]
At the time of Morrill's death his 43 years and 299 days of continuous Congressional service was the longest in U.S. history. He has since been surpassed, but still ranks 31st as of the end of the 118th Congress (December 2024).
In 1962, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 4 cent postage stamp to celebrate the centennial of the Morrill Land-Grant College Act. In 1999, the Postal Service issued a 55 cent Great Americans series postage stamp of Morrill to honor his role in establishing the land grant colleges.[35]
In 1967 Ohio State University opened two residence halls on its campus. Named for Morrill and Abraham Lincoln, they are also known as The Towers.[36] They are the tallest buildings on the OSU campus, and among the tallest in Columbus Ohio.
↑Forbes, Charles Spooner (January 1, 1899). "Justin Smith Morrill". The Vermonter. St. Albans, VT: St. Albans Messenger Company. pp.87–88 – via Google Books.
12Historian of the U.S. House of Representatives. "The Creation of National Statuary Hall". Historical Highlights: July 2, 1864. Washington, DC: U.S. House of Representatives. Archived from the original on May 18, 2022. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
↑U.S. Government Printing Office, House Resolution 1253Archived March 10, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Vermont Senator Justin Smith Morrill, April 14, 2010
Cross, Coy F. Justin Smith Morrill, Father of the Land-Grant Colleges. Michigan State University Press: 1999. ISBN978-0-87013-508-8. online
Ross, Earle D. "The 'Father' of the Land-Grant College" Agricultural History (1938) 12#2 pp.151–186 online, on Justin S. Morrill versus Jonathan Baldwin Turner of Illinois on who deserves the most credit.
Sorber, Nathan M. Land-grant colleges and popular revolt: The origins of the Morrill Act and the reform of higher education (Cornell University Press, 2018) online.
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