Memorial from the citizens of South Carolina praying for the establishment of an agricultural college, January 4, 1859

In the 1840s citizens around the country, including some from the South, began petitioning Congress for support of improved agricultural education. Passed during the Civil War, the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862 barred land grants to states in rebellion. Benefits were eventually extended to states from the former Confederacy, including South Carolina.

Records of the U.S. House of Representatives, National Archives and Records Administration