On July 2, 1862, the Morrill Act was passed by Congress. The act bears the name of its creator, the Vermont Republican representative Justin Smith Morrill. Passed during the Civil War, the act marked the beginning of the federal government’s involvement in public higher education. With it, Congress gave each state thirty thousand acres of federal land for each of its congressional districts to promote public education in agriculture, engineering, and military science.

On July 2, 1890, the Sherman Antitrust Act was signed. This act was the first action taken by the federal government to place limits on business monopolies and cartels and to prevent restraints on trade, such as price fixing.

On July 2, 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. This act was the most important piece of civil rights legislation passed since the Reconstruction era. It outlawed discrimination on a number of bases, including race, color, religion, national origin, and, with respect to employment, sex. Also of importance was the breadth of areas in which discrimination was outlawed, as the act prohibited discrimination in places of public accommodations, public facilities, federally assisted programs, employment, and voting. It also pushed for the full desegregation of schools and expanded the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, which had been created by the Civil Rights Act of 1957.