Our Collection

At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Lee, Robert E., 1807-1870 An act donating public lands to the several state & territories, which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture & the mechanic arts

Order a pdf of this item here.

Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC05926 Author/Creator: Lee, Robert E., 1807-1870 Place Written: s.l. Type: Autograph document Date: 1866 circa Pagination: 3 p. : docket ; Height: 24.9 cm, Width: 19.9 cm Order a Copy

A copy of the Morril Land Grant act, granting public lands to individual states for the building of agricultural colleges, written by Robert E. Lee. The act, passed in 1862, offered states 30,000 acres of public land per Congressman from that state, to be used as an endowment to build agricultural and mechanical schools. Lee, who following the war became the President of Washington College (now Washington and Lee), was heavily engaged in trying to raise funds to rebuild education in the decimated South. In January of 1866 Lee met with the Committee on Education of the Virginia Legislature in an attempt to raise funds for education. It is likely that this document was written during this period when Lee was heavily involved in raising money for education.

Lee, Robert E., 1807-1870

Citation Guidelines for Online Resources