In July 1862 Congress passed the Morrill Act, which provided 30,000 acres of federal land for each member of Congress representing that state. Because the act was passed during the Civil War, only states then in the Union received the land grants. Representative Justin Morrill of Vermont, sponsor of the bill, had worked for its passage since 1857. Under this act, the states sold the land that Congress had granted them and used the money from the land sales to establish schools to teach "agriculture and the mechanic arts." Thus, these schools are often called "A & M" colleges. Although the act specifically stated that other studies could be included, its intent was to meet the need for trained technicians and engineers in the rapidly industrializing nation. All land-grant schools also had to include military training as part of the curriculum. Under the provisions of the act, more than 70 land-grant colleges have been established. In 1890 a second Morrill Act extended the program to southern states, which allowed these states to establish a number of historically black colleges.
