MORILL ACT OF 1862

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• Passed on July 2, 1862, this act made it possible for new western states to establish colleges for their citizens. The new land-grant institutions, which emphasized agriculture and mechanic arts, opened opportunities to thousands of farmers and working people previously excluded from higher education.

HOMESTEAD ACT OF 1866

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• Enacted in 1866, the Southern Homestead Act opened some 47 million acres of land in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi to homesteading by blacks and whites who had remained loyal to the United States during the Civil War. The law remained in effect for 10 years.

DAWES SEVERALTY ACT OF 1877

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• Approved on February 8, 1887, "An Act to Provide for the Allotment of Lands in Severalty to Indians on the Various Reservations," known as the Dawes Act, emphasized severalty, the treatment of Native Americans as individuals rather than as members of tribes.