Essay Read by Constituting America Founder, Actress Janine Turner

John Adams, writing to delegates of the North Carolina Provincial Congress in 1776, forcefully argued that the best form of government is a republic, rooted in virtue. Such a government would provide its citizens with the greatest chance for happiness and the nation with the best hope for stability. Key to this project, Adams believed, was a well-educated population. He put it like this:

“Laws for the liberal education of youth, especially of the lower classes of people, are so extremely wise and useful that to a humane and generous mind, no expense for this purpose would be thought extravagant.”

It was not until 1862, with the passage of the Morrill Land-Grant Acts, that Congress moved to fulfill the Adams vision. This law provided states with federal land, which states could then sell to found colleges dedicated to educating ordinary citizens. Initially, these institutions focused on agricultural and military training. Quickly, though, many of these new schools grew into full universities, where studies focused on the liberal arts and business were just as important as those aimed at farming and ranching. 

In time, these universities became democratic marvels: they educated future leaders in government, business, and the law. They trained a state’s teachers and medical professionals. Most deeply, they became centers of civic meaning. In time, land-grant universities came not only to reflect the people of their respective states but also to shape their common life. For example, Texas farmers in every county have access to support from Texas A&M’s AgriLife Extension Service Field Offices. Louisiana treats LSU football season as a continuous and rollicking celebration that even those who do not care about sports shape their calendars around. The University of Wyoming provides a sparsely populated but proud state with the ability to channel intellectual resources, economic innovation, and civic pride through one institution. 

Americans who attend their home state’s land-grant institution often become intensely loyal supporters of the school, long after graduation. Those who attend a public university in another state frequently call that new place home for the long term. More practically, these institutions provide economic mobility, not only for their students but also for the larger communities that house them. Continuing education programming, summer camps for local children, and public-facing events that bring national (and sometimes international) experts to town are all common features of land-grants. 

Perhaps the most amazing feature of these schools in the twenty-first century is that they have remained affordable to a large chunk of the American population. Today, average tuition for private universities is north of $50,000 per year. Average tuition at a public university, for in-state students, is just over $10,000 annually. Moreover, many states have programs that cover most or all remaining tuition for qualified students after scholarship awards are applied. Put simply, American land-grant universities are often the most powerful force for social cohesion and economic improvement in their respective states. 

Americans are so accustomed to our network of widely dispersed public universities that we too easily take them for granted. Washington, in his farewell address, implored the American people to see the connection between education and civic health. 

‘It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government….Promote then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge.’

Benjamin Franklin’s famous statement that the new American nation would be “a republic, if you can keep it” is apt here. The American republic’s prosperity, intellectual vitality, and civic solidarity have all come to rely on its land-grant colleges and universities. Our republic, if we are to keep it, depends on the strength of these institutions going forward.

John Kitch II is an Assistant Professor of Instruction at The School of Civic Leadership at the University of Texas. He is a political theorist who teaches and writes on the American political tradition, with a focus on institutional development and foreign policy. He is a native Texan, husband and dad of three.

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