This LibGuide provides links and suggested resources that can be used for doing research on the Morrill Act , which was signed by President Abraham Lincoln on July 2, 1862. The Morrill Act established land grant colleges or univeristies in each of the states. Colorado State University is Colorado's land grant college university. The original intent of the land grant colleges was a focus on agricultural and military training. (Later expansions added experiment stations [the Hatch Act of 1887] and the Smith-Lever Act funded the extension of that research to the agricultural industry.) Practical arts is the emphasis.