Certainly it was not the intention of Congress to turn over the debts and prospectively encumbered lands of an old and badly managed territorial institution, but to give the State that was to be, a grant for a State university, free from all connections with territorial organizations. Will you, therefore, take the steps indicated in the enabling act, and appoint, at an early day, some one to select two townships of land for the State university, incorporated by the last legislature? AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE LAND GRANT. Under “An act donating public lands to the several States and Territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts," approved July 2, 1862, Minnesota is entitled to 120,000 acres, of which none has been sold. THE FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND ACRES DUE THE STATE. The five hundred thousand acres due the State by the provisions of an act of Congress entitled "An act to appropriate the proceeds of the sales of the public lands," etc., approved the fourth day of September, one thousand eight hundred and forty-one, which, by provisions of the Constitutions of Wisconsin, Iowa, Oregon, Kansas, California, and Nevada, are appropriated to educational purposes, do not appear as yet to have been set apart by Minnesota. TABLE I.-Historical and statistical data of the United States. * Area taken from geographical authorities and not from public surveys. Total population in 1860 was 31,500,000; estimated in 1867 to be 38,500,000. ¶126, 990 70,000 To the white population in Nevada should be added 10,507 Indians; and in Colorado, 2,261 Indians. As estimated January 1, 1865. That portion of District of Columbia south of the Potomac river was retroceded to Virginia July 9, 1846, (Stat. vol. 6, p. 35.) By census of 1867. $360,000 TABLE II.—Showing the area of the several States and Territories containing public lands, and the quantity devoted for educational purposes by Congress up to June 30, 1867. [Compiled from Report of the Commissioner of the Land Office for 1867.] Sq. miles. Acres. Acres. Acres. Acres. Acres. Acres. Acres. Ohio 39, 964 25,576, 960 704, 488 69, 120 Indiana 33, 809 21, 637, 760 650, 317 46,080 Illinois Missouri 55, 410 35, 462, 400 985, 066 46, 080 65, 350 41, 824,000 1, 199, 139 46,080 244, 384. 51 147,797. 25 Alabama. 50, 722 32, 462, 080 902, 774 46,080 Mississippi 21, 949. 46 47, 156 30, 179, 840 837,584 46, 080 Louisiana. 41,346 26, 461, 440 786, 044 46,080 Michigan.. 56, 451 36, 128, 640 1,067, 397 46,080 225, 253.88 960, 807.59 Arkansas 52, 198 33, 4 6,720 886, 460 46,080 2,097.43 500, CO 2,000.00 67,090, 382.62 44, 154, 240, 00 67, 983, 914 1,082, 880 | 1, 159, 499. 65 3, 192, 582. 22 44, 971. 11 1, 414, 567, 574.96 * The whole quantity liable to be issued under the act of July 2, 1862, is 9,600,000 acres. PROVISIONS RESPECTING EDUCATION IN THE CONSTITUTIONS OF THE SEVERAL STATES. PRELIMINARY REPORT. THE following pages contain the provisions of the successive Constitutions of the several States, in reference to Education, Literature and Science, together with a series of propositions embracing the cardinal features of a system of public instruction, which the Constitution might make obligatory on the Legislature to establish. HENRY BARNARD, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, WASHINGTON, 1868. Commissioner. |