On October 17, 1979, US President Jimmy Carter signed legislation establishing the US Department of Education. The history of the department dates back to over 100 years earlier, when Congressman Justin Morrill introduced a bill for the creation of public land grants for state colleges. His bill went largely ignored for several years, until President Lincoln’s administration took it under consideration, but first wanted to collect information on the schools already in existence and already being built. Lincoln’s successor, Andrew Johnson, then created the Department of Education on March 2, 1867, largely at the urging of Zalmon Richard. However, the department only retained its independent status for two years before it was changed to the Office of Education within the Department of the Interior. Over the next century, the office would change names, temporarily to the Bureau of Education, and be transferred to the Federal Security Agency and later the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.