Agricultural and Mechanical (A&M)
Colleges
Postsecondary institutions established to promote the development of the practical arts and sciences.
Agricultural and mechanical (A&M) colleges were formed
after the passage of the Morrill Land Grant Act in 1862.
Congress granted the states 30,000 acres of federal land for
each senator and representative that the state had in the
national legislature for the purpose of establishing A&M colleges. The main curriculum would concentrate on agriculture, engineering, and home economics—the practical arts.
The act, passed during the Civil War, also required the establishment of a Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) at
every land-grant institution. Most of the colleges implemented mandatory participation programs, but after the
1920s, membership in the ROTC became voluntary.
Congress expanded the policy of assistance to A&M colleges
in 1887 with the passage of the Hatch Act, which made funds
available for research and experimental facilities. Additional
resources, allocated under the Smith-Lever Act of 1914,
extended agricultural and home economics research.
The study and development of a variety of crops and the
study of animal husbandry encouraged improved farming
techniques, which in turn stimulated the economy through
the increase in annual yield. But as farmers exceeded the
demands of consumers, prices dropped. Agricultural depressions remained a recurrent theme from the late 1880s
through the 1930s until the United States sought markets
overseas and implemented domestic policies that included
farm subsidies. In recent years, A&M colleges have shifted
their emphasis to engineering. As of 1999, more than 10,000
universities and colleges, including 29 Native American tribal
institutions, have achieved land-grant status as agricultural
and engineering schools.