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Morrill, Justin Smith, 1810–98, American politician, b. Strafford, Vt. A prosperous merchant, he helped organize (1855) the Republican party in Vermont. First elected to Congress in 1854, he served in the House of Representatives until 1867 and then in the Senate until 1898. He is best known for the Morrill Act, a bill first introduced in 1857 and finally passed in 1862, which provided for the granting of public lands for the establishment of educational institutions; these came to be known as land-grant colleges (see land-grant colleges and universities land-grant colleges and universities, U.S. institutions benefiting from the provisions of the Morrill Act (1862), which gave to the states federal lands for the establishment of colleges offering programs in agriculture, engineering, and home economics as well as in
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Bibliography

See biography by W. B. Parker (1924, repr. 1971).

Morrill, Justin Smith (1801–98) U.S. representative; born in Strafford, Vt. Son of a blacksmith, he ran a general store in Strafford (1831–48), turned to farming, then went to the U.S. House of Representatives (Whig, Rep., Vt.; 1855–67). A member of the Ways and Means Committee, he sponsored the Land-Grant College Act of 1862, providing public lands for agricultural colleges. In the Senate (Rep., 1867–98) he provided funds for their survival in the Second Morrill Act of 1880.