 Their method and format were later adopted by all the states in the old Northwest Territory and became the foundation for the U.S. Land Grant Act in 1861, which established schools like Michigan State University all over the country.Pierce became the country's first state superintendent of public instruction and Crary Michigan's first member of the U.S. House.The first railroad labor union in the U.S., The Brotherhood of the Footboard (later renamed the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers), was formed in Marshall in 1863.