MEMORIAL. From Vol. XIX. of "House Miscellaneous Documents," second session of the Forty-seventh Congress, being the "History of the Public Domain," prepared under the direction of the Public Land Commission, by Thomas Donaldson, and published by the Public Land Commission in 1884 as the official history of the public domain and of the acts of Congress relating thereto, the following extracts are taken as an introduction to a detailed statement regarding the grant of land made by Congress for the support of a seminary of learning in the State of Mississippi. From page 223: The lands granted in the States, and reserved in the Territories for educational purposes by acts of Congress from 1785 to June, 1880, were FOR PUBLIC OR COMMON SCHOOLS. Every sixteenth section of public land in the States admitted prior to 1848, and every sixteenth and thirty-sixth section of such land in States and Territories since organized-estimated at 67,893,919 acres. FOR SEMINARIES OR UNIVERSITIES. The quantity of two townships, or 46,080 acres, in each State or Territory containing public land, and, in some instances a greater quantity, for the support of seminaries or schools of higher grade, estimated at 1,165,520 acres. FOR AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGES. Land in place, 1,770,000 acres; land scrip, 7,830,000 acres; total, 9,600,000 acres. From page 226 : UNIVERSITIES. July 23, 1787, Congress, in the "Powers to the Board of Treasury to contract for the sale of Western Territory," ordered That not more than two complete townships be given perpetually for the purpose of an university, to be laid off by the purchaser or purchasers as near the center as may be, so that the same shall be of good land, to be applied to the intended object by the Legislature of the State. This related to lands now in the State of Ohio, in the Symmes and Ohio Company purchases. This inaugurated the present method of taking from the public lands, for the support of schools or seminaries of a higher grade, the quantity of two townships at least, and in some instances more to each of the States containing public lands, and special grants have also been made to private enterprises. In the legislation relating to the admission of public land States into the Union, from the admission of Ohio in 1802, to the admission of Colorado in 1876, grants of two townships of public lands, viz.: 46,080 acres, each for university purposes, are enumerated. Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin, and Minnesota are the exceptions, each having received more than two townships in area. Nineteen States (up to 1882) have had the benefit of this provision, and the two townships are reserved in the Territories of Washington, New Mexico, and Utah. These will be granted and confirmed to them upon their admission into the Union. From page 228: UNIVERSITY GRANTS. The following statement shows the number of acres granted to the States and reserved in the Territories of Washington, New Mexico, and Utah, for university purposes, by acts of Congress, the dates of which are given in proper column: GRANTS AND RESERVATIONS FOR UNIVERSITIES. States and Territories. Total Area, Under what Acts. Ohio Indiana. Illinois Missouri Alabama Mississippi. 69,120 April 21, 1792; March 3, 1803. 46,080† March 3, 1803; February 20, 1819. 46,080 April 21, 1806; March 3, 1811; March 3, 1827. 46,080 June 23, 1836. Michigan Arkansas 46,080 June 23, 1836. UNIVERSITY GRANTS TO DAKOTA, ARIZONA, IDAHO, AND WYOMING TERRITORIES. Two townships of 23,040 acres each, six miles square, or 46,080 acres were reserved by the act of February 18, 1881, for a university in each of the Territories above named. All existing Terri tories and political divisions, save the District of Columbia, Indian Territory, and Alaska now have university grants. A careful examination of the acts of Congress cited above, and which may be readily found in the volumes entitled "Land Laws of the United States," compiled under the direction of the Public Land Commission, by Alexander T. Britton, will show clearly that in the case of each and Three townships actually granted to Territorial and State Legislatures, as is shown on p. 17. † Only one township received by Territory or State of Mississippi, as shown in this Memorial. every State and Territory named in the foregoing list, the acts of Congress were so framed as to secure, beyond question, to each a clear title, without incumbrance of any kind, to not less than two townships of public land for the support of a seminary of learning, EXCEPTING ONLY THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI. In every other case the grant of two townships was made not merely in the State, but to the State or its Legislature, in trust for the purpose named. The plan generally followed in the legislation of Congress was, first, when a territory was organized, to reserve from sale one township (or two) for the support of a seminary of learning therein, and then, when the Territory was organized into a State, to grant to the State, or in trust to its Legislature for the purpose named, two townships. This first step apparently was taken in the act of March 3, 1815, which reserved from sale in the Mississippi Territory (then embracing the area now included in the States of Alabama and Mississippi), "one entire township, to be located by the Secretary of the Treasury, for the use of a seminary of learning." When the Alabama Territory was organized, by the act of April 20, 1818, there was reserved from sale "in the Alabama Territory, an entire township, for the support of a seminarg of learning within said Territory. By the act of March 2, 1819, this township and another were “vested in the Legislature of said State [Alabama], to be appropriated solely to the use of such seminary by the said Legislature." But what was the legislation in regard to the State of Mississippi, and the grant for a seminary of learning therein? The act of Congress making the grant is dated February 20, 1819, and its wording is peculiar. After the usual grant for a seat of government comes SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That in addition to the township of land granted for the support of Jefferson College, there shall be granted in the said State another township, or a quantity of land equal thereto, to be located in tracts of not less than four entire sections each, which shall be vested in the Legislature of the said State, in trust for the support of a seminary of learning therein, which lands shall be located by the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, whenever an extinguishment of Indian title shall be made for lands suitable, in his opinion, for that purpose, in the said State; which grant, hereby provided to be made, shall be considered as made in lieu of a township directed to be reserved by the fifth section of an act entitled "An act to provide for the ascertaining and surveying of the boundary line fixed by the treaty with the Creek Indians, and for other purposes," passed March 3, 1815; and which reserve of one township, provided to be made by the aforesaid fifth section of said act, shall be offered for sale in the same manner as the other public lands in the same district. The effect of this act was to give to the Legislature of the State of Mississippi, in trust, for the support of a seminary of learning, only one township of land, instead of two, the minimum number granted to any other State. The reason for this is undoubtedly found in the reference to Jefferson College, and in a misunderstanding of the relation of that institution to the State of Mississippi. Evidently Congress regarded a donation of land made to Jefferson College by the acts of March 3, 1803, and February 20, 1812, as having been made to the State of Mississippi, or to an institution belonging to, or controlled by, the Territorial or State Legislature in Mississippi. An examination of the charter and the history of Jefferson College up to the present time will show that this opinion was entirely erroneous. A copy of the original act of the Territorial Legislature in Mississippi, incorporating "The trustees of Jefferson College," and passed May 13, 1802, is appended to this paper. It names the members of the original board of trustees, and defines their organization, their powers, and the purposes of their incorporation. It makes this board a self-perpetuating body, and this |