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 AGRICULTURAL LAWS OF 1862 



During the second year of Lincoln's presidency three bills of 

 vast significance to agriculture were passed by Congress. They were 

 the act establishing the Department of Agriculture, the Homestead Act, 

 and the Land Grant College Act. Although these laws were the cul- 

 mination of movements extending over considerable time, it remained 

 for Lincoln to sign them and make them operative. 



ACT ESTABLISHING THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



On May 15, 1862, Lincoln signed the act that established the Department of 



Agriculture with a Commissioner at its head. The Department was made 



an executive office of the first rank under an act approved by 



President Cleveland on February 9, 1889. By this act the 



title of the head of the Department was changed from 



Commissioner to Secretary, and he was made a 



member of the President's Cabinet. 



The full text of the act of 



1862 is as follows: 



Be it enacted by; the Senate and House of Re presentatives of the 

 U nit ed S tates of America in C ongress assemb led. That there is hereby 

 established at the seat of the Government of the United States a De- 

 partment of Agriculture, the general designs and duties of which shall 

 be to acquire and to diffuse among the people of the United States 

 useful information on subjects connected with agriculture in the 

 most general and comprehensive sense of that word, and to procure, 

 propagate, and distribute among the people new and valuable seeds and 

 plants. 



Sec. 2. And be it further enacte d. That there shall be ap- 

 pointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the 

 Senate, a "Coitmissioner of Agriculture," who shall be the chief 

 executive officer of the Department of Agriculture, who shall hold 

 his office by a tenure similar to that of other civil officers ap- 



