on concerning the University was as follows:

The Legislature shall take measures for the protection,
improvement, or other disposition of such lands as have been or may
hereafter be reserved or granted by the United States, to this
state, for the support of a University, and the funds accruing from
the rents or sale of such lands, or from any other source, for the
purpose aforesaid, shall be and remain a permanent fund for the
support of said University, with such branches as the public
convenience may hereafter demand for the promotion of literature,
the arts and sciences, and as may be authorized by the terms of
such grant. And it shall be the duty of the Legislature, as soon as
may be, to provide effectual means for the improvement and
permanent security of the funds of said University.

This constitution went into effect as soon as Michigan became a state on
the 26th of January, 1837, though Pierce, afterwards known
affectionately in University circles as "Father Pierce," had already
been serving as the Superintendent of Public Instruction since the
previous July. Upon him fell the important task of preparing a system
for the organization of common schools, together with a university and
its branches. The system he devised has become a landmark in educational
progress throughout the world, as is shown by the numerous foreign
delegations which have visited the University in recent years for the
purpose of studying our educational system. As for the plans outlined by
Pierce, which were quickly approved by the Legislature in March, 1837,
we can best quote President Angell when he said fifty years later: "Our
means have not yet enabled us to execute in all particulars the
comprehensive plan which was framed by Mr. Pierce."

There was no precedent in America for the task set him. Eight of the new
states, it is true, had accepted federal grants of land but had failed
in the trust thus imposed, and the feeble schools they supported offered
no more guidance than Michigan's two experiments in Detroit. The field
was practically virgin soil, actually as well as metaphorically; the
problem was the effective organization of a university on the basis of
the land given by the Government to the State for this purpose.

The answer was the Organic Act of the University of Michigan approved
March 18, 1837. In essentials it provided for a Board of Regents with a
Chancellor