On the one hand, the development of American colleges and universities in this period is developing in the direction of serving industrial and agricultural production, and A&M College has been established; On the other hand, it moved towards academic development and founded Johns Hopkins University. In these two waves, many new colleges and universities have emerged and many old ones have been reformed.

1862, Congress passed the maurer Act, which stipulated that every state with members of Congress should be allocated 30,000 acres of land by the federal government, and the proceeds would be used to set up a new type of college-College of Agriculture and Engineering, in order to train professionals urgently needed for industrial and agricultural development. This kind of college usually takes four years, regardless of gender, and its curriculum meets the actual needs of social, industrial and agricultural economic development. The new college reversed the university tradition of studying theory and despising production, and made American higher education embark on the road of "democratization".