The Propriety of the Federal Role in Expanding Equal Educational Opportunity

Abstract

Beginning with the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which sought to encourage the establishment of schools and the means of education, the United States government has supplied land, resources, and other assistance for the advancement of education and related actitivies.1 Since then over eighty-nine pieces of legislation have been enacted for similar purposes; among the most significant was the Morrill Act of 1862, which established land grants for agricultural colleges.2 Efforts to advance equal educational opportunity for blacks took shape in the Freedmen's Bureau legislation,3 and over twenty-five years later, in the second Morrill Act of 1890.4 Congressional responsibility for enforcing the Reconstruction amendments,5 and the enactment of civil rights acts during Reconstruction6 and in the 1950s7 and 1960s,8 reflect the federal government's commitment and obligation over time to provide equal treatment to U.S. citizens, including equal educational opportunity.