when the green mountain boys swarmed into uniform to fight at gettysburg and cold harbor, et cetera. more vermonters per capita fought and died on the union side than in any other northern state. and that's also the legacy of ethan allen. and the planes that fly patrol over new york city since 9/11 are the green mountain boys of the air guard of vermont. his legacy is a state with dissent. never really agreeing. even among its congressional delegation. never agreeing from the west side of the mountains to the east side of the mountains. gu it has a strong reputation for diversity and dissent. most of all the legacy of ethan allen is since his time where people went to start over, to start again. thank you.

this is where i usually say fire at will. >> do we have a very brief time for one or two questions. >> in the review of your book, reference is made for him being anned a have indicate of church and state. can you comment further on that? >> well, his attack on the established church in new england and his book "the only orac oracle," he doesn't think that you should appear in hierarchy. in vermont or in new england, he was spoking mostly to new england me did use the words separation of church and state. that phrase was coined by thomas jefferson in a letter to his secretary of the navy during a bitter re-election campaign in 1803, that there could be should be a wall of separation. jefferson's only book aligns very well on his views along with ethan allen's only book. and both of them firmly believe

that there had to be separation between church and state. and indeed in vermont by law and in any new community the school had to be built before a church could be built. and that's still the case. so that is some proof of it. sir? >> i'm from arlington, vermont, and i think ethan allen's first wife is probably buried right next to st. james church there. >> mary browne? >> yes. >> yes. >> yes. but arlington is one of the towns that he beat up the most. it's ironic that she would die and be buried there because it's mostly loyalists. >> growing up, we all knew down in arlington is torre hollow. so-called torre hollow in the 1940 s. >>er to i hatori is not a nice . ed a. madam? >> i'm from hope may vermont. i always called myself a green mountain girl. and we used to dress up in

costumes and i talked about ethan and ezra and, i ra having meetings that the eagle tavern. it was very much a part of our lives. my dad was the history professor at green mountain and he's the man who did the highway markers, the historic markers around the world vermont. >> that's wonderful. >> and it's wonderful to hear your research. >> and no one ever called them by their last names. it's that personal. >> and we used to pretend we were running with the indians in the woods. >> thank you very much for coming. next weekend on history bookshe, garland tucker iii discusses his book "the high tide of american conservatism."

davis, coolidge, and the 1924 election. the book examines the 1924 presidential election between democratic candidate john davis and the incumbent republican president calvin coolidge. history bookshelf airs three times on weekend on american history 26 including saturday at noon eastern. >> this weekend, harvard professor on the civil war and the movement to end slavery. >> it's one of the fascinating aspects of abolitionism or the abolitionist is when lincoln gives his inaugural, the self-described abolitions are still minority, tiny minority. what transforms a hissists into respect respected critics of the american scene is ft. sumpter. >> tonight at 8:00 eastern. also this weekend, more from our

series on key political people who ran for president and lost but changed political history. . "the contenders" and a look at eugene debs, sunday at 7: 30 p.m. "american history tv" this weekend on c-span3. the more ril land grant act. talks about the morill land grant act of 1862 and about the history of federal land grant policie policies. the university of nebraska lincoln hosted this 40-minute event.

ladies and gentlemen, i'll ask that we reconvene. i'm ellen, the senior vice chancellor at the university of nebraska lincoln. i want to welcome all of you who are here today on our campus and all of our colleagues and friends who are watching on c-span and on the nebraska educational television network. martin jischke is president i'm herris of purdue university and former president of iowa state university and university of missouri rallo. m.i.t. trained aeronautical eng near who earned fellow status in the american association for the advancement of science. martin's been awarded the highest honor any of us can achieve, an honorary docket

trait from his undergratd yat alma mater, illinois institute of technology. how pleased mr. morill wou have been to have an influential advocate for american public higher education, a scholar who led two mere land grant universities and two chaired the boards of both nostalgic and the aau take as his topic today the morill land grant act investing in america's future. please welcome professor jischke. >> thank you very much. thank you. thank you, ellen, for that very generous introduction. we wish my two children were here to hear it. it is good to be back in lincoln and good to be back at the university of nebraska.

we have enjoyed this first year of your participation in our conferen conference. the women sometimes and not sometimes, but it's good to be back. i am pleased to have this opportunity to talk about what, to me, is one of the most remarkable accomplishments of american higher education, the morill act. it's a very special thing and i hope my remarks do it justice. on july 2nd, 1862, president abraham lincoln signed into law an act donating public lands to the several states and territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts. it was then referred to as the college land bill. it is now known as the morill act of 1862 in honor of its

author, representative later senator justin smith morill of vermont. it was the first ever federal aid to higher education in which the government granted to each of the states 30,000 acres of public land for each of its representatives and senators and congress. this land was to be sold and the proceeds to create an endowment in each state to support at least one college where the leading objects will be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies and including military tactics, who we today call rotc, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, such matters the legislature of various states may prescribe in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes and several pursuits of professions, life.

less than two pages in length, this historic piece of legislation created a uniquely american institution of higher education whose impact on the nation, i believe, has been quite profound. i believe it ranks with the g.i. bill of 1944 in the creation of community colleges as america's most significant contributions to higher education across the world. justin morill was a very important public servant in the last half of the 19th century. the lack of educational opportunity in vermont meant the son of a blacksmith's formal education ended with eighth grade. none the less, he had an abiding interest in learning, largely self taught, he became a well educated person, especially in economics, finance, agriculture, architectu

architecture, and literature. he traveled widely and enjoyed the company of other educated people. and in 1865 he helped to incorporate the university of ve vermont which he served for many, many years as a trustee. after a successful business career, he entered public life in 1848 at the young age of 38. he was elected to the u.s. house of representatives in 1855 as a wig and was one of the founders of the modern republican party. he served in congress for 43 years. while the idea of vocational higher education in schools of agriculture were at evidence in the country of 1840s and late 1950s, it was morill's leadership in congress that cattized this national effort to create more practical educational opportunities for working class families. according to the historian allen

nevans, faith in progress, fueled by social, scientific, technological and cultural advances of early 19th century caused americans to see a t. traditional college curriculum as, as i'm quoting, hopelessly antiquated. the united states, much of the western world, rejected classical and theological studies, championed science, and insisted on classes in agriculture and the mechanic arts and demanded greater democracy in education. morill himself was particularliest sbred in addressing the important practical problem of american agriculture's declining productivity. his travels to europe and his study of european agriculture made clear to him that the problem was a lack of knowledge and skill on the part of american farmers. these limitations could only be involved by specialized schools

of literature that would teach farmers and now i quote him, the capabilities of soils, benefits of various fertilizers, which grasses produce the best livestock and most milk, deep plowing and drainage methods, remedies for crop diseases, and how to control insects. tuition would be free, while the sale of crops could help defer expenses. the land grant marriage of practical and liberal education with an emphasis on science stood in stark contrast to the then existing institutions of higher education with a focus on law, religion, medicine, and humanities. today 150 years later, i would argue there are a few -- precious few american colleges and universities in which both practical and liberal education are not taught.

this land grant educational philosophy is clearly triumphed. the land grant commitment to access for all, especially children of farmers, clerks, and mechanics, the industrial classes democratized american higher education powerfully and permanently. women, especially, but also minorities and i'm grants and working classes populated these new low-tuition colleges. graduating classes now for a century and a half have included millions of first generation college students whose education has enabled the upward social and financial mobility of america's industrial classes and their families. this investment in the intellectual and social capital, the educational capital of our nation has contributed device sighsively to the american dream of opportunity for all and to america's competitiveness of other nations of the world.

but the morill act of 1862 was hardly sufficient to the full flowering of the land grant fill loss sofy. while the 1826 act led to the creation of a few land grant colleges for african-americans, namely alcorn state university and hampton university, most southern states with the largest african-american populations initially declined to share the land grant funds with the recently freed slaves. in 1890, a second morill act was passed with senator morill's leadership, increasing federal funding to land grant colleges and mandating a colleges were a distinction of race or color is made in the admission of students who receive no money. simultaneously, separate but equal institutions were giving land grant status, initially south carolina state opportunity and kentucky state, with 16 more

predominantly african-american colleges added in the 20th century. then in 1994, the land grant mandate for access was further broadened to native americans including 29, now 33, tribal colleges bringing today's land grant total number to 125 colleges and universities across the full breath of the nation enrolling 3.6 million students. in 1887 it created state agricultural stations that were provided federal funding by formula to be matched with state dollars to promote the efficient production marketing distribution and utilizations of the products of the farm as essential to the health and welfare of our people and to promote a sound and prosperous agriculture and rural life as indispensable to the maintenance of maximum employment and national prosperity and

security. these ag experiment stations were established under the direction of the then 1862 land grant colleges to conduct original and other research investigations and experiments, varying directly and contributing to the establishment and maintenance of a permanent and effective agricultural industry in the united states. the land grant mission was explicitly expanded and supporteded to include basic and applied research related to agriculture and rural life. the third and most distinkive mission of the land grant colleges and universities came in to being with the passage of the smith leeber act in 1914 which established the cooperative expension service as a partnership again of the federal government through the u.s. department of agriculture and the states through their land grant institutions.

this extension service was to, and now i quote the act, to aid and diffusing among the people of the united states, useful and practical information on subjects related to agriculture, home economics, and rural energy. again, federal funds were awarded by formula and to be matched by the state and the county. thus, it took actually more than 50 years, from 1862 to 1914, for the full land grant mission of teachi teaching, research, and extension to be developed. today we use newer language of learning discovery and engagement to discuss the further evolution of this mission over the 20th century. in each of these three dimensions of its mission, the new land grant institutions represented a significant, i would argue, radical departure

from the then existing colleges and universities of america. it represented a new marriage of practical and liberal education with much more emphasis on science, the research agenda combined both basic and applied research, especially in areas related agriculture, and the ivory tower isolation of the european university was totally rejected by embracing an extension mission in which these educational and research capacities of these new colleges and universities would literally be taken off campus to the people in their communities all across every state to solve real problems and i'm profit tmprovey of life for all americans. the land grant institutions were a very bold departure whose impact on our country over the past 150 years has been truly remarkable. these land grants have awarded

now more than 20 million degrees. more than 70% of all engineering degrees are awarded by land grant colleges and universities. leadership agricultural learning, discovering and engagement has made american agriculture the most productive, safest food fiber system in the world. one important consequence being that americans spend a smaller fraction of their income on food than any nation on earth. in the 4-h program pioneered by extension is the largest youth development program in the nation with more than 6 1/2 million participants. justin morill's vision in 1862 has been more than achieved with an impact on american and its agriculture, its rural communities that has been transformati transformative. and the quintessentially american tri apartheid mission of learning, discovery and engagement, has redefined the

educational landscape here in the united states and increasingly around the world. why did this pioneering federal involvement in higher education succeed so decisively? there are many reasons but i'm going to emphasize today four. first, morill's land grant act focused on the very real needs of america in the 1860s. more than half the u.s. population lived on farms and made their living from agriculture. agriculture dominated the american economy in the 1860s. that agricultural was quite inefficient and desperately in need of a more scientific understanding of farming. morill's vision and its subsequent development were sufficiently flexible that it could be readily adapted to the various soil, climate, and farming conditions all across the country, even within each of

the states. second, the funding of these institutions was a partnership of the state and federal government that was later expanded by the smith leeber act to include county government. and the federal funding to each state was by formula. this both facilitated the creation of a political census at the federal level. while forcing the various land grant institutions to respond to the needs of different states and its communities. i see this as a politically very adroit balg lancing, on one hand national interests and on the other hand, local. third, while morill's intent was to expand education and research in agriculture in the mechanic arts, the enabling law explicitly allowed for the teaching of other fields, scientific and classical, including military tactics, in a manner that the states will

respectfully prescribe. again, flexibility to adapt the needs of the various states as well as flexibility to adapt to the changing needs of agricultural as new science was develop developed and the world changed. very importantly, this flexibility also allowed the land grant institutions themselves to grow and expand into new fields that responded to the needs of the growing and changing united states. while i believe morill emphasized the mechanic arts because of their impact on farm machinery and agricultural productivity, land grant institutions developed programs across the entire breath of what we now call engineering in a way that not only enhanced their service to agricultural but position these institutions to provide a tech logically literal population needed by the industrializing united states in the 20th century.

morill's land grant institutions were not only responsive to the united states of the 19th century, their emphasis on science and technology positioned them well for the united states of the 20th century. fourth, the focus on low cost educational opportunities and range of practical fields for the children of the industrial classes not only helped to create the human capital needed to advance the country, it democratized american higher education. in 1860, only 1% of the young people in america between 18 and 24 were enrolled in colleges and universities. a century later it was 30% and today we are pushing 60%. let's access to higher education, which in the 1860s, was largely restricted to the offspring of wealthy and well-positioned families, was now available to the children of the working class farmers,

clerks, and mechanics. the american dream of progress in a land of opportunity was made real for millions of first generation college students who attended morill's peoples colleges. for these reasons the political forces supporting morill's vision were powerful and they prevailed, not withstanding the opposition of the 1%. that number recurs in our politics -- that already attended college in the 1860s. it was a powerful idea that focused on the needs of america and it was sufficiently flexible that it could evolve to meet the nation's needs well into the 20th century. but there were some unintended consequences of the new land grant colleges and universities to the changing states that were designed to serve. let me mention four to try to come to describe what i see as some of the challenges to the

mission, role, and importance of these institutions. the education and research carried out by land grants has been a major factor in the incredible dramatic improvement of agricultural productivity over the last century and a half. fewer and fewer americans are needed to grow an ever increasing bounty of agricultural products. the fraction of the american population that was engaged in production agricultural has declined continuously since 1862 when it was 58% of the working population of labor force. today it's just over 1%. and most of the agricultural production is concentrated in relatively small number of large farms. for example, it's estimated that less than 8% of all farms produce more than half of agricultural production, and production agricultural's contribution to the u.s. gross

domestic product is now estimated to be approximately 1.2%. even taking account of the food distribution and processing system, agricultural is no longer the dominant industry of your nation. this productivity story has its roots in the science and technology that morill's colleges brought to agricultural practice. second, the declining farm population has had its impact on the vitality of rural america. fewer farmers, better transportation, relentless economies of scale, modern communication and supply chains in agricultural, has led to school closings, church closings, shuttered main street stores, and an aging population in many rural communities. the shrinking farm population is no longer large enough to support the social and

commercial infrastructure of many rural communities. and in the absence of alternative sources of employment from outside agricultural, many rural communities, including here in the great plains, have simply disappeared. morill's vision of a more scientific agriculture contributing to a more vibrant rural america did not work out quite as he had envisioned. many of the children of rural america left the farm to study at the land grant universities and instead of returning to rural america, it took jobs in america's urban centers where the industrialization of the country was taking place. sizable fraction of land grant university graduates from the midwest and here in the great plains ended up in places like chicago, dallas, silicon valley. they went where the jobs were and jobs were not in rural america.

there were unintended political consequences. political powers shifted with population from rural to urban areas which forced agricultural interests to find new allies in urban america. led, for example, to food stamps and cheap food policy. more generally, the interest of the food and fiber industry represented by the various commodity groups consistently compromised the interest of rural communities in favor of commodity prices and farm support programs if lon. the long-term question de klein and support for extension is, i believe, one example where rural communities lost capacity to shape a different, perhaps more prosperous, future. fourth, the impact on the environment of agricultural practices fostered by the land