The Agricultural Education Origins of the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862

When education is paid for by society it is only logical that it should address social problems. Such an understanding stresses that historical change should be examined in terms of how education responds to the needs of society, and the process involved in that change. It must be cautioned, however, that educational change does not precisely correspond with social need. Abraham Flexner (1968) addressed the issue of social influence using the term "social lag" to describe how education changes in such a way that it lags behind society. This study intersects the theoretical frameworks of both educational change as a response to societal needs, and the idea of change lagging behind such need in terms of examining the agricultural education origins of the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862. A particular emphasis is given to understanding the long time lag and numerous attempts to advance agricultural education in Congress. The agricultural origins of the Morrill Act go back as far as the American Revolution and were manifested in two forms. The first of these was the struggle for the creation of a Department of Agriculture, and the second was the movement toward agricultural education. The data sources for this study come primarily from proceedings of Congress from the time of the Revolution, to the passage of the Morrill Land Grant Act in 1862.