United States Office of Education

In 1857, Congressman Justin S. Morrill introduced a bill for the establishment, through the aid of public land grants, of State colleges throughout the country primarily for the teaching of agriculture and the mechanical arts.

Neither of the proposals was accepted until the time of the 16th President, with the Lincoln administration (1861–65), after which it became necessary to gather information on the many schools already in existence, as well as on those being built.

Additionally, the creation of social science associations generated interest in data-driven approaches to governance at all levels.

[4] Reformers, especially Radical Republicans and Progressive and liberal Democrats, hoped that the Office would become a powerful federal agency, but were frustrated at every turn by Congress, which did not or want to impose on states and local jurisdictions in the cities, towns and counties to control educational policy.

In the aftermath of the Civil War, "states' rights" was still in full sway, and it would take several other domestic and foreign crises in the coming decades to bring a sense of a more centralized and national policy.