I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3034 
To posthumously award a Congressional gold medal to Justin Smith Morrill, 
United States Senator of the State of Vermont, in recognition of his 
lasting contributions to higher education opportunity for all Americans. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 23, 2017 
Mr. NEWHOUSE (for himself, Mr. PETERSON, Mr. WELCH, Mr. DAVID SCOTT 
of Georgia, Ms. DELBENE, Mrs. WALORSKI, Ms. JENKINS of Kansas, 
Mr. KIND, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. LOEBSACK, Mr. WESTERMAN, Mr. NOR-
CROSS, Mr. DELANEY, Mr. RUSH, Mr. TURNER, Ms. MOORE, Mr. WALZ, 
Mr. POSEY, Mr. BEYER, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. JODY B. HICE of Georgia, Mr. 
JENKINS of West Virginia, Mr. PALAZZO, Mr. YOUNG of Iowa, Mr. 
THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. STEWART, Mr. MOOLENAAR, Mr. ROYCE 
of California, Mr. ABRAHAM, Mr. BOST, Mrs. MCMORRIS RODGERS, Mr. 
LUCAS, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. ROUZER, and 
Mr. CONAWAY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on 
House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To posthumously award a Congressional gold medal to Justin 
Smith Morrill, United States Senator of the State of 
Vermont, in recognition of his lasting contributions to 
higher education opportunity for all Americans. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Justin Smith Morrill 
Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds that: 
(1) Justin Smith Morrill, the son of a black-
smith and farmer, was born in Strafford, Vermont, 
on April 14, 1810. He prospered as a merchant and 
businessman in his early years and served in public 
office the remainder of his life. 
(2) Morrill, the longest serving Member of Con-
gress in the Nineteenth Century and Chairman of 
the Committee on Ways and Means in the United 
States House of Representatives and the Committee 
on Finance in the United States Senate, served 5 
terms in the United States House of Representa-
tives, from 1854 to 1869, and 6 terms in the United 
States Senate, from 1872 to 1898. 
(3) Morrill, inspired by his own lack of public 
education opportunity beyond his fifteenth birthday, 
proposed legislation that would set aside public lands 
to be sold by the states to create and fund State- 
run colleges. 
(4) Congress enacted the First Morrill Act (7 
U.S.C. 301 et seq.) on July 2, 1862, marking the 
genesis of the national focus on higher education in 
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the United States through the establishment of the 
land-grant institutions. 
(5) Congress enacted the Second Morrill Act (7 
U.S.C. 321 et seq.) on August 30, 1890, estab-
lishing what is now a flourishing system of histori-
cally Black land-grant colleges and universities 
across the nation. 
(6) Land-grant and other public research uni-
versities today award nearly 1,000,000 degrees an-
nually and perform more than $37,000,000,000 of 
research for improving the lives of Americans. 
(7) In 1864, Morrill introduced House Joint 
Resolution 66 which created the National Statuary 
Hall from the Old Hall of the U.S. House of Rep-
resentatives and authorized the President of the 
United States to invite States to submit two statues 
of worthy citizens to be exhibited, which continues as 
a daily inspiration to the thousands of visitors to the 
United States Capitol. 
(8) As chairman of the Committee on Buildings 
and Grounds, Morrill served as principal advocate 
for the construction and financing of the Thomas 
Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress; for 
inviting Frederick Law Olmstead to design the 
present landscape of the Capitol; for planning the lo-
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cation of the United States Supreme Court Building; 
for raising funds to complete the Washington Monu-
ment; and for championing the Smithsonian Institu-
tion. 
(9) In delivering his last speech as Senator just 
two weeks before his death, Morrill noted that the 
location of the United States Supreme Court in close 
proximity to the United States Capitol and the Li-
brary of Congress ‘‘would form a harmonious group 
of large public structures on Capitol Hill of un-
equaled grandeur, and will be appreciated by the 
American people forever’’. 
(10) In his 1882 book ‘‘Self-Consciousness of 
Noted Persons’’, Morrill concluded, ‘‘The spur to ac-
quire some future reputation, to be earned by con-
scious fidelity, keeps the work of men always at its 
best, the mechanic at the top of his skill, the mer-
chant ever mindful of the upright and downright in 
trade; the pulpit and the bar it pushes on to effort 
and to eloquence; it makes the soldier brave in bat-
tle, the politician ashamed not be a patriot, and the 
statesman unwilling to give up to party what was 
meant for mankind.’’. 
(11) After Morrill died on December 28, 1898, 
eulogies extolled Morrill’s leadership, integrity and 
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good-will, including the comments of Senator George 
Graham Vest of Missouri who stated, ‘‘If all those 
to whom he did acts of kindness could whisper 
across his grave, it would make an anthem sweeter 
and more sonorous than any that ever pealed 
through cathedral aisle’’ and those of Senator 
George Hoar of Massachusetts who recalled that 
Justin Morrill, ‘‘knew in his youth the veterans of 
the Revolution and the generation who declared 
independence and framed the Constitution. He knew 
the whole history of his country from the time of her 
independence, partly from the lips of those who 
shaped it, partly because of the large share he had 
in it himself.’’. 
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 
(a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 
the House of Representatives and the President pro tem-
pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 
for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of the Con-
gress, of a gold medal of appropriate design in commemo-
ration of Justin Smith Morrill in recognition of his lasting 
contributions to higher education opportunity for all 
Americans. 
(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purpose of the 
presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 
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of the Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the 
‘‘Secretary’’) shall strike a gold medal with— 
(1) an inscription stating ‘‘A Statesman who 
did not give up to party what was intended for hu-
mankind’’; and 
(2) suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions 
to be determined by the Secretary. 
(c) SMITHSONIAN.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Following the award of the 
gold medal in honor of Justin Smith Morrill under 
subsection (a), the gold medal shall be given to the 
Smithsonian, where it shall be available for display 
as appropriate and made available for research. 
(2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 
Congress that the Smithsonian should make the gold 
medal received under paragraph (1) available for 
display or for loan as appropriate so that it may be 
displayed elsewhere, particularly at other appro-
priate locations associated with the life of Justin 
Smith Morrill. 
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 
bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3 
under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 
a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 
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materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, 
and the cost of the gold medal. 
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 
(a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck pursu-
ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 
51 of title 31, United States Code. 
(b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of section 
5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck 
under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items. 
Æ 
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