might be sold if the people residing in the respective townships should so declare by ballot; moreover, the Bank of Tennessee was constituted the custodian of the funds thus arising for the benefit of the townships.25 26 It remains now to note that the Constitution of 1870 recognizes the inviolable character of the school fund in the same terms employed in the Constitution of 1834. The school law adopted three years later recognized the permanent school fund of the State to be $1,500,000. To this amount was added the unpaid interest due the school fund by the State, amounting to $1,012,500, thus making a total fund of $2,512,000 for which the S ate issued a certificate of indebtedness paying six per cent. per annum, payable semi-annually." Inquiry of State officials has not elicited the much-desired information as to how much of this fund has arisen from school lands alone; for, as will appear farther on, both the Surplus Revenue of 1836 and the Distribution Act of 1841 have contributed to this fund. In addition to the acts already mentioned, Congress has passed two other acts relating to educational matters in Tennessee. In 1882 (December 23) the city of Memphis was granted a certain lot of land within its limits, for use either as a library site or for public school purposes, in consideration of the transfer to the United States of certain valuable land within the city.28 Two years later (June 12, 1884) the act of 1843 was amended, and the State authorized to make needful rules and regulations for protecting the school lands and for leasing them for any term of years." Had Tennessee come into actual possession of the nominal Government grant of one thirty-sixth of her area for school purposes, there would have accrued to her school fund over 15 Shankland's Pub. Statutes, 239. 16 Constitution, 1870, Art. XI, Sec. 10. 28 22 S., c. 8, p. 399. 27 School Laws, 1895, 20. 29 23 S., c. 79, p. 41. 800,000 acres of school lands. How far short of this amount the grant has really fallen, the writer has not yet been able to determine. one tract Government Grant for Academies * * * The congressional grant to Tennessee of "100,000 acres in for the use of academies, one in each ,, 30 is county in said State, to be established by the Legislature," the only general donation for institutions of this character to be found in congressional annals. In this same year the Legislature passed a law providing for the appointment of three commissioners to select the academy lands in one tract conformably to the cession act of Congress; and it was further provided that the treasurer of East Tennessee should keep the account of the moneys accruing from the academy land, which moneys should be subject to the future disposal of the Legislature of the State; moreover, that the interests and profits of these lands should "enure to the use equally of the several academies to be established in the several conuties." 31 An act of 1813 provided for the payment of the moneys due West Tennessee to its treasurer; and the treasurers of both East and West Tennessee were authorized to invest the academy fund in the stock of either the bank of Nashville or the bank of the State of Tennessee. During this same year, the academy trustees of the various counties where such institutions had been established, were authorized to lease the public school lands, and to use the funds accuring therefrom for the maintenance or the building of academies." This act was repealed in 1817, although the moneys that had been thus used for the purposes of the academies were not required to be repaid for common school purposes. * * * Apparently the academy moneys were not always invested in bank stock as required by the law of 1813; for in 1825 the 30 2 S., c. 31, s. 2, p. 382. April 18, 1806. 81 Haywood and Cobbs, 121. 32 Ibid., 158. Legislature ordered the treasurers of East and West Tennessee to invest all the academy moneys in the stocks of the bank of Tennessee and its branch bank at Knoxville. The banks were required to pay to the trustees of the county academies semiannual interest at six per cent. on the funds thus invested, "each county in the State being entitled to as large a portion as any other county;" and any county not having an academy in existence should have its share and the accrued interest thereon placed to its credit." What academies were established in accordance with the law of 1806, and what proportions the academy fund assumed, the writer has been unable to determine. It is mentioned, for instance, that Hampden Sidney Academy was established at Knoxville, and opened on January 1, 1817; and that in 1820 this academy was united with East Tennessee College." Whatever academies were established must have experienced difficulty in endeavoring to subsist on the meagre funds allotted from the Government grant. That those funds were meagre, there can be no doubt. The statutes of these early days are filled with a host of relief measures, postponing the payments of interest and principal in the interests of the settlers on the academy land. The peculiarities attaching to the location of educational lands in Tennessee have been already mentioned (see school lands). An en bloc location on land already overrun with settlers led to a seemingly endless strife between the State and the settlers. Finally, in 1829, in order to arbitrate this matter, the Governor was authorized to grant to the trustees of the county academies of the State a one-half township of land in one entire tract, in lieu of the disputed lands of the 100,000 acres grant; and each county acquiescing to this arrangement was directed to receive its pro rata share of the one-half township.36 35 Until 1829 the academy funds were invested in bank stock, 33 Haywood and Cobbs, 165. 34 Merriam, 64. 35 Haywood and Cobbs, 124 ff. 36 Ibid., 138. as previously indicated. In this year the banks were directed to apportion the academy fund among the county academies, and to pay over such funds to the trustees of the respective academies. To the trustees was granted power to loan any of these moneys for a period not exceeding twelve months," for the use of the respective academies. It seems that the law of 1838 establishing a State bank did not appropriate the academy moneys to the capital of the bank; for the code of Tennessee of 1857-58 enumerates, among the powers of the academy trustees, that "the trustees have the power to lend any of the money in their hands for any period not exceeding twelve months." This is the latest reference on the subject found by the writer.s University Land Grant On September 11, 1806, the State Legislature chartered Cumberland College on the foundation of Davidson Academy, Nashville, which had been established by the North Carolina Legislature in 1785, and to this institution was granted a one-half share of the congressional endowment for a college in West Tennessee." An act of October 26 of the following year bestowed the East Tennessee grant upon Blount College, established in 1794, which was now (1807) incorporated as the East Tennessee College at Knoxville." Cumberland College was, in 1826, transformed into the University of Nashville; while the East Tennessee College became, successively, East Tennessee University in 1840, and the University of Tennessee in 1879. The history of the college lands and funds presents a most peculiar and confusing narrative of events. The congressional 38 Meigs and Cooper, 259. 37 Haywood and Cobbs, 170. 39 A letter from Professor Garrett, former State superintendent of public instruction, indicates that the history of this fund, and particularly of its present status, is a topic about which very little is at present known. 40 Merriam, 23. 41 Merriam, 64. act of cession provided that none of the lands granted for colleges and academies should be sold for less than two dollars an acre. Had this condition been strictly recognized, the endowment fund for each college would have amounted to at least $100,000. The State was, however, limited to a selection of lands en bloc and within a restricted territory already overrun with settlers, thus rendering difficult the problem of carefully selecting the college lands. On the same day that the congressional grant was formally accepted (1806), the Legislature directed the college and academy lands to be located in such a manner as to compel the selection of lands already occupied by settlers; and the law further provided that settlers might retain their lands on the payment of one dollar an acre," payable in ten annual instalments." The college moneys were directed to be paid to the treasurer of the land district, and to await the future action of the Legislature." Seven years later the Legislature ordered one-half of the college moneys to be paid to the trustees and president of Cumberland College, to be by them invested in the stock of either the Nashville Bank, or the Bank of the State of Tennessee; and a like proportion was directed to be invested by the treasurer of East Tennessee and the land commissioners in similar bank stock for the benefit of East Tennessee college." During the years following 1806, the Legislature passed a series of relief measures postponing the payments of instalments on the purchase price, and either extending the times of, or remitting entirely, the payments of interest." This species of relief and remedial legislation continued until 1829, when the Legislature offered to grant to each of the colleges a one-half township of land in lieu of the disputed lands in the congressional grant, provided the institutions released all claims to such lands." In response to this "take what you can get" offer, the trustees of East Tennessee College released 42 Niles's Register, XXI, 299. "Haywood and Cobbs, 121. 43 Sanford, 35. 43 Ibid., 157. 46 Ibid., 124 ff. 47 Ibid., 138. |