The Civil War delayed the reopening of the college. In 1867, college trustees lobbied the Delaware legislature for Delaware College to be designated as Delaware's land-grant college pursuant to the Morrill Land-Grant College Act. Introduced by Congressman Justin S. Morrill of Vermont in 1857 and signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862, the Morrill Land-Grant College Act granted public lands to each state in order to establish schools to teach agriculture and engineering. On Jan. 12, 1869, the Board of Trustees of Delaware College signed an agreement to become the state's land-grant institution. In exchange, the state received a one-half interest in the property of the college and the authority to appoint half of the members of the Board of Trustees. The Morrill Land-Grant College Act granted Delaware the title to 90,000 acres in Montana which it sold and invested the profits into bonds used to fund the college.