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Justin S. Morrill

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Justin S. Morrill
Morrill seated in a suit
Morrill pictured between 1855 and 1865
United States Senator
fromVermont
In office
March 4, 1867 – December 28, 1898
Preceded byLuke P. Poland
Succeeded byJonathan Ross
Chairmanof theHouse Republican Conference
In office
March 4, 1863 – March 3, 1867
SpeakerSchuyler Colfax
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byRobert C. SchenckandNathaniel P. Banks(1869)
Chairman of theHouse Committee on Ways and Means
In office
March 4, 1865 – March 3, 1867
Preceded byThaddeus Stevens
Succeeded byRobert C. Schenck
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives
fromVermont's2nddistrict
In office
March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1867
Preceded byAndrew Tracy
Succeeded byLuke P. Poland
Personal details
Born(1810-04-14)April 14, 1810
Strafford, Vermont,US
DiedDecember 28, 1898(1898-12-28)(aged 88)
Washington, D.C.,US
Political party
SpouseRuth Barrell Swan (1821–1898)
Children2
ProfessionBusinessman
Signature

Justin Smith Morrill(April 14, 1810 – December 28, 1898) was an American politician and entrepreneur who representedVermontin theUnited States House of Representatives(1855–1867) andUnited States Senate(1867–1898). He is most widely remembered for theMorrill Land-Grant Actsthat provided federal funding for establishing many of the United States' public colleges and universities as well as 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 AcademyandRandolphAcademy. 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 Committeeand 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 Committeeand theJoint Committee on Public Buildings.Morrill died inWashington, D.C.,on December 28, 1898. He was buried at Strafford Cemetery.

Early life

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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 AcademyandRandolphAcademy.[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 CountyWhig Committee, a member of the Vermont State Whig Committee, and a Delegate to the1852 Whig National Convention.[9]

Congressional career

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Morrill seated in a suit
Justin Smith Morrill (pictured between 1865 and 1880)

In 1854 Morrill was elected to theThirty-fourth Congressas 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 Meansin 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 aRepublicanin 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-firstthroughForty-fourth Congresses) where he played a vital role in obtaining the currentLibrary of Congressmain 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-sevenththroughFifty-second,Fifty-fourthandFifty-fifth Congresses).[12]In addition, Morrill was a regent of theSmithsonian Institutionfrom 1883 to 1898 and a trustee of theUniversity of Vermontfrom 1865 to 1898.[12]

Legislation

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Morrill Hall atIowa State University,one of several Morrill Halls at colleges created by theMorrill Act

TheMorrill Tariffof 1861 was aprotectivetariff 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 ofPennsylvaniaeconomist 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 Lincolnin 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 Actof 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 StatestheSupreme 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 Collectioninside 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 formerConfederatestates and led to the creation of severalhistorically black colleges and universities.[20]

The Land Grant College Acts ultimately led to the founding of 106collegesincluding many state universities, polytechnic colleges, and agricultural and mechanical colleges.[21]

Personal

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Mausoleum of Senator Justin Smith Morrill in Strafford, Vermont

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 Vermontin 1880 andColumbian College Law Schoolin 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 servicewas the longest in U.S. history. He has since been surpassed, but still ranks 26th as of March 2021.

Legacy

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TheMorrill HomesteadinStrafford, Vermont

TheJustin Smith Morrill Homesteadin 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 Upsilonfraternity 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 Universitywas 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 seriespostage stamp of Morrill to honor his role in establishing the land grant colleges.[35]

In 1967Ohio State Universityopened 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.

See also

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References

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  1. ^McCarthy, Daniel (May 5, 2008)Fewer Bases, More BaseballArchivedApril 30, 2011, at theWayback Machine,The American Conservative
  2. ^Moroney, Siobhan; II, Coy F. Cross (2000)."Justin Smith Morrill: Father of the Land-Grant Colleges".History of Education Quarterly.40(3): 352.doi:10.2307/369563.ISSN0018-2680.JSTOR369563.
  3. ^Forbes, Charles Spooner (January 1, 1899)."Justin Smith Morrill".The Vermonter.St. Albans, VT: St. Albans Messenger Company. pp. 87–88 – viaGoogle Books.
  4. ^abForbes,p. 88.
  5. ^Hiram Carleton,Genealogical and Family History of the State of VermontArchivedOctober 10, 2023, at theWayback Machine,Volume 1, 1903, page 83
  6. ^Richard Zuczek,Encyclopedia of the Reconstruction EraArchivedOctober 10, 2023, at theWayback Machine,Volume 2, page 422
  7. ^William Belmont Parker,The Life and Public Services of Justin Smith MorrillArchivedJuly 25, 2023, at theWayback Machine,1924, page 52
  8. ^abMartinez, J. Michael (2019).Congressional Lions:Trailblazing Members of Congress and How They Shaped American History.Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. pp. 44–45.ISBN978-1-4985-5945-4– viaGoogle Books.
  9. ^Alfred Charles True,A History of Agricultural Education in the United States: 1785–1925,1929, page 95
  10. ^abcForbes,p. 89.
  11. ^abForbes,pp. 89–90.
  12. ^abcForbes,p. 90.
  13. ^Cynthia Clark Northrup, Elaine C. Prange Turney,Encyclopedia of Tariffs and Trade in U.S. HistoryArchivedOctober 10, 2023, at theWayback Machine,2003, page 265
  14. ^Alvin S. Felzenberg,The Leaders We Deserved (and a Few we Didn't)[permanent dead link],2010, page 190
  15. ^Bob Navarro,The Country in ConflictArchivedOctober 10, 2023, at theWayback Machine,2008, page 105
  16. ^Michael S. Durham,Desert Between the MountainsArchivedOctober 10, 2023, at theWayback Machine,1999, page 199
  17. ^Richard Neitzel Holzapfel,The Utah JourneyArchivedOctober 10, 2023, at theWayback Machine,2009, page 211
  18. ^Gordon Morris Bakken, editor,Law in the Western United StatesArchivedOctober 10, 2023, at theWayback Machine,2000, page 292
  19. ^abHistorian 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.Archivedfrom the original on May 18, 2022.RetrievedJune 6,2022.
  20. ^Roger L. Geiger, editor,History of Higher Education AnnualArchivedOctober 10, 2023, at theWayback Machine,1998, page 81
  21. ^Epsilon Sigma Phi,Land Grant UniversitiesArchivedMarch 11, 2014, at theWayback Machine,retrieved March 10, 2014
  22. ^Forbes,p. 91.
  23. ^Hiram Carleton,Genealogical and Family History of the State of VermontArchivedOctober 10, 2023, at theWayback Machine,Volume 1, 1903, page 85
  24. ^Vermont Secretary of State,Legislative ManualArchivedOctober 10, 2023, at theWayback Machine,1902, page 107
  25. ^Washington Post, James S. Morrill Dead, July 29, 1910
  26. ^George Washington University,General Alumni Catalogue of George Washington University,1917, page 174
  27. ^This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:"Morrill, Justin Smith".The New Student's Reference Work.1914.A facsimile of the book is available atarchive.org.
  28. ^Leonard C. Schlup, James G. Ryan,Historical Dictionary of the Gilded AgeArchivedOctober 10, 2023, at theWayback Machine,2003, page 321
  29. ^Inter-state Journal magazine,The Morrill MausoleumArchivedOctober 10, 2023, at theWayback Machine,September 1900, page 3
  30. ^U.S. Government Printing Office,House Resolution 1253ArchivedMarch 10, 2014, at theWayback Machine,Commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Vermont Senator Justin Smith Morrill, April 14, 2010
  31. ^Robert F. Wilson,Vermont Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat StuffArchivedOctober 10, 2023, at theWayback Machine,2008
  32. ^Delta Upsilon fraternity,The Delta Upsilon QuarterlyArchivedOctober 10, 2023, at theWayback Machine,Volume 11, 1892, page 30
  33. ^D. Appleton and Company,Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia and Register of Important EventsArchivedOctober 10, 2023, at theWayback Machine,1898, page 559
  34. ^Michigan State University, College of Arts and Letters,Justin Morrill College, 1965–1979ArchivedMarch 10, 2014, at theWayback Machine,retrieved March 10, 2014
  35. ^Cornell University,Senator Justin S. Morrill: The Land-Grant College Act and CornellArchivedOctober 13, 2014, at theWayback Machine,retrieved March 10, 2014
  36. ^Deitch, Linda (January 9, 2013)."Due south of Ohio Stadium (late 1940s)".Columbus Dispatch. Archived fromthe originalon April 11, 2015.RetrievedApril 5,2015.

Further reading

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[edit]
Wikisourcehas the text of a1911Encyclopædia Britannicaarticle aboutJustin Smith Morrill.
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of theU.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. EdmundsandRedfield 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
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