SHEFFIELD SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL 137 



Reference has already been made to the Morrill 

 Land Bill and its veto by President Buchanan when 

 first passed in 1859. In 1862, this bill, entitled "An 

 Act donating Public Lands to the several States and 

 Territories which may provide Colleges for the bene- 

 fit of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts," was again 

 introduced in compliance with many petitions, includ- 

 ing one from instructors of the Sheffield Scientific 

 School. It passed both houses in June and was signed 

 by President Lincoln July 2, 1862. Connecticut 

 received under this bill warrants for 180,000 acres of 

 land, a condition of the gift being that the land should 

 be sold and the proceeds invested so that no part of 

 the principal should be expended and another pro- 

 viso was that no part of the income should be paid out 

 for buildings. The power of designating the institu- 

 tion to receive this grant was left to the legislature 

 of each state. In Connecticut it was appropriated to 

 the Sheffield Scientific School, which thus became the 

 1 ' Connecticut College of Agriculture and the Mechanic 

 Arts" the State Legislature in 1863 passing a bill 

 accepting the scrip and devoting the interest to the 

 school. In 1864 a contract was signed between the 

 State of Connecticut and Yale College, providing that 

 the income from funds coming to the State under the 

 Morrill bill from the National Land Grant should be 

 at once, and forever, directed to the enlargement and 

 improvement of the Sheffield Scientific School, with 

 especial reference to agriculture and the mechanic 

 arts. This school was thus the earliest institution 

 actually to use money derived from the National Land 

 Grant. 



