Justin S. Morrill | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Morrill pictured between 1855 and 1865 | |
| 19thDean of the United States Senate | |
| In office November 1, 1891 – December 28, 1898 | |
| Preceded by | George F. Edmunds |
| Succeeded by | William B. Allison |
| United States Senator fromVermont | |
| In office March 4, 1867 – December 28, 1898 | |
| Preceded by | Luke P. Poland |
| Succeeded by | Jonathan Ross |
| Chairman of theHouse Republican Conference | |
| In office March 4, 1863 – March 3, 1867 | |
| Speaker | Schuyler Colfax |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Robert C. Schenck andNathaniel P. Banks(1869) |
| Chairman of theHouse Committee on Ways and Means | |
| In office March 4, 1865 – March 3, 1867 | |
| Preceded by | Thaddeus Stevens |
| Succeeded by | Robert C. Schenck |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromVermont's2nd district | |
| In office March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1867 | |
| Preceded by | Andrew Tracy |
| Succeeded by | Luke P. Poland |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1810-04-14)April 14, 1810 |
| Died | December 28, 1898(1898-12-28) (aged 88) Washington, D.C., US |
| Political party |
|
| Spouse | Ruth Barrell Swan (1821–1898) |
| Children | 2 |
| Profession | Businessman |
| Signature |  |
Justin Smith Morrill (April 14, 1810 – December 28, 1898) was an American politician and entrepreneur who representedVermont in theUnited States House of Representatives (1855–1867) andUnited States Senate (1867–1898). He is most widely remembered forMorrill Land-Grant Acts that provided federal funding for establishing many of the United States' public colleges and universities following a movement led byJonathan Baldwin Turner. He is also remembered for theMorrill Tariff. Originally aWhig, after that party became defunct Morrill was one of the founders of theRepublican Party.[1]
A native ofStrafford, Vermont, Morrill was educated in the schools of Strafford,Thetford Academy andRandolph 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 theWays and Means Committee and theHouse 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 theSenate Finance Committee and theJoint Committee on Public Buildings. Morrill died inWashington, D.C., on December 28, 1898. He was buried at Strafford Cemetery.
Morrill was born inStrafford, 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 ofcolonel.[3] Morrill attended the common schools of Strafford,Thetford Academy andRandolph Academy.[4] He then trained for a business career by working as a merchant's clerk in Strafford andPortland, 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 marriedPortus 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 theWhig Party, including serving as chairman of theOrange County Whig Committee, a member of the Vermont State Whig Committee, and a Delegate to the1852 Whig National Convention.[9]
_(cropped).jpg)
In 1854 Morrill was elected to theThirty-fourth Congress as a Whig.[10] He was a founder of theRepublican Party, and won reelection five times as a Republican, serving from March 4, 1855, to March 3, 1867.[10] He served as chairman of theCommittee on Ways and Means in theThirty-ninth Congress.[10] He also served on theJoint Committee on Reconstruction, which drafted theFourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
In 1866 Morrill was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Union Republican.[11] He was reelected as aRepublican in 1872, 1878, 1884, 1890, and 1896, and served from March 4, 1867, until his death, almost thirty-one years.[11] He served as chairman of theCommittee on Public Buildings and Grounds (Forty-first throughForty-fourth Congresses) where he played a vital role in obtaining the currentLibrary of Congress main building through his work on the Joint Select Committee on Additional Accommodations for the Library.[12] He also served as chairman of theCommittee on Finance (Forty-fifth,Forty-seventh throughFifty-second,Fifty-fourth andFifty-fifth Congresses).[12] In addition, Morrill was a regent of theSmithsonian Institution from 1883 to 1898 and a trustee of theUniversity of Vermont from 1865 to 1898.[12]
TheMorrill Tariff of 1861 was aprotective 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 ofPennsylvania economist Henry C. Carey.[13] It was one of the last acts signed into law byJames Buchanan, and replaced theTariff of 1857.[14] Additional tariffs Morrill sponsored were passed to raise revenue during theAmerican Civil War.[15]
Morrill is best known for sponsoring the Morrill Act, also known as theLand Grant College Act. This act was signed into law byAbraham 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 byWilliam Belmont Parker,The Life and Public Services of Justin Smith Morrill
He also authored theMorrill Anti-Bigamy Act of 1862, which targetedthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based on the then-existing practice ofplural marriage (polygamy). It imposed a five-hundred dollar fine and up to five years imprisonment for the crime of polygamy. On January 6, 1879, inReynolds v. United States theSupreme Court, upheld the Anti-Bigamy Act's ban on plural marriage.[16][17][18]
While serving in the U.S. House, Morrill secured passage of legislation to establish theNational Statuary Hall Collection inside theUnited 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]
A second Land Grant College Act in 1890 targeted the formerConfederate states and led to the creation of severalhistorically black colleges and universities.[20]
The Land Grant College Acts ultimately led to the founding of 106colleges including many state universities, polytechnic colleges, and agricultural and mechanical colleges.[21]
In 1851, Morrill married Ruth Barrell Swan (1822–1898) ofEaston, Massachusetts.[22] They had two children. Justin Harris Morrill (1853–1855) died in childhood. James Swan Morrill (1857–1910) graduated from theUniversity of Vermont in 1880 andColumbian College Law School in 1882. He was a lawyer and farmer and served in a variety of offices including as a member of theVermont House of Representatives.[23][24][25][26] He wroteSelf-Consciousness of Noted Persons, published in 1886.[27]
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 ofcontinuous Congressional service was the longest in U.S. history. He has since been surpassed, but still ranks 31st as of the end of the118th Congress (December 2024).
TheJustin Smith Morrill Homestead in Strafford is a National Historic Landmark.[30]
Many colleges established under the Morrill Act created a 'Morrill Hall' in his honor.[31]
Morrill was initiated into theDelta Upsilon fraternity as an honorary member in 1864.[32] He received honorary degrees from theUniversity of Vermont,University of Pennsylvania,Dartmouth College, and many other institutions.[33]
Justin Morrill College atMichigan State University was named for him.[34]
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 centGreat Americans series postage stamp of Morrill to honor his role in establishing the land grant colleges.[35]
In 1967Ohio State University opened two residence halls on its campus. Named for Morrill and Abraham Lincoln, they are also known asThe Towers.[36] They are the tallest buildings on the OSU campus, and among the tallest inColumbus Ohio.
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromVermont's 2nd congressional district March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1867 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. senator (Class 3) from Vermont March 4, 1867 – December 28, 1898 Served alongside:George F. Edmunds andRedfield Proctor | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chairman of theU.S. Senate Committee on Finance 1877–1879 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chairman of theU.S. Senate Committee on Finance 1881–1893 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chairman of theU.S. Senate Committee on Finance 1895–1898 | Succeeded by |
| Class 1 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 3 | ||
| Public Buildings (1838–1857) | | |
|---|---|---|
| Public Buildings and Grounds (1857–1947) | ||
| Public Works (1947–1977) | ||
| Environment and Public Works (1977–present) | ||
 | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
