By Lauren Chin Once President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation enacted on January 1, 1863, political questions arose on how to integrate freed slaves into society. Debates over the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery, also rose questions on what the federal government’s role should be to help freed slaves. On March 3, 1865, Lincoln signed legislation for the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands into federal law for one year. Today, this law is known as the Freedmen’s Bureau. The Bureau was a temporary federal agency within the War Department that provided tutelage to help both African-Americans and Caucasians transition from slavery to freedom. Specifically, it provided former slaves with relief, legal help, educational and employment assistance to give African-Americans the same basic rights and opportunities as whites. Each state had its own Bureau building and other organizational figures. The officers of the Bureau played several roles in Southern lives. They informed African-Americans and Caucasians what their rights and commitments were, set up hospitals and clinics, fought for fair payment for African-American workers, pacified arguments between Blacks and their white employers, married people, and even helped them through the court system. During emergencies and dire necessity, the agencies distributed clothes and food to African-American and Caucasian southerners. Since most officers in the Bureau believed that the institution of slavery had mentally handicapped slaves, they established the first schools for freed men. Supervising 3,000 across the Union, and also married African-American couples. The Bureau was responsible for reselling abandoned and confiscated property to ex-slaves, but the federal government (namely President Johnson and Congressmen) did not support land redistribution to slaves. Thus, they restored lands to their former Caucasian owners. The main purpose of the federal agency was to aid any Southerners, while Southern economy weaned itself off of slavery to a new free-labor system. The Bureau’s jobs were slowly cut down until it completely shut down in 1872. President Johnson’s veto for the renewal of the Freedmen Bureau in 1866 surprised moderate Republicans, demonstrating his uncompromising and stubborn spirit. He also deemed the bill unconstitutional, opposing the belief that the federal government should protect African-American rights. Dissension between congressional and executive powers increased until Congress overrode Johnson’s veto and passed the Civil Rights Act. The Bureau did not have enough resources or political support to make a dramatic impact on Southern life. After seven years, the Bureau did not fulfill its ideals of an unbiased free-labor system and equal justice and failed to unify the African-Americans and Caucasians, since only Radical Republicans believed that blacks and whites were truly equal.
Depicted in this drawing is Gen. Oliver O. Howard, the first commissioner of the Freedman's Bureau. He is shown protecting the gap between angry southern white men and the newly freed black men. Harper's Weekly. Full Text: COPYRIGHT 1999 Gale Group, COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale, Cengage Learning.
Andrew Johnson Kicking out the Freedmen's Bureau: A political cartoon caricatures President Andrew Johnson's veto of the Freedman's Bureau bill. ILLUSTRATION BY THOMAS NAST, PROVIDED COURTESY OF HARPWEEK. Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2006 Gale, Cengage Learning.
1866: Freedman Bureau Issues Rations to Old and Sick Blacks
Students and teachers pose outside the Freedmen's Bureau school in Beaufort, South Carolina, ca. 1865. (Corbis)
An illustration shows the marriage of a black soldier by Chaplain Warren of the Freedman’s Bureau. Slave marriages were not valid under the law prior to the end of the Civil War so, following emancipation, thousands of freed couples were married in Freedman’s Bureau ceremonies.
FREEDMEN'S BUREAU 1865-1872
By Lauren ChinOnce President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation enacted on January 1, 1863, political questions arose on how to integrate freed slaves into society. Debates over the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery, also rose questions on what the federal government’s role should be to help freed slaves. On March 3, 1865, Lincoln signed legislation for the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands into federal law for one year. Today, this law is known as the Freedmen’s Bureau. The Bureau was a temporary federal agency within the War Department that provided tutelage to help both African-Americans and Caucasians transition from slavery to freedom. Specifically, it provided former slaves with relief, legal help, educational and employment assistance to give African-Americans the same basic rights and opportunities as whites. Each state had its own Bureau building and other organizational figures.
The officers of the Bureau played several roles in Southern lives. They informed African-Americans and Caucasians what their rights and commitments were, set up hospitals and clinics, fought for fair payment for African-American workers, pacified arguments between Blacks and their white employers, married people, and even helped them through the court system. During emergencies and dire necessity, the agencies distributed clothes and food to African-American and Caucasian southerners. Since most officers in the Bureau believed that the institution of slavery had mentally handicapped slaves, they established the first schools for freed men. Supervising 3,000 across the Union, and also married African-American couples. The Bureau was responsible for reselling abandoned and confiscated property to ex-slaves, but the federal government (namely President Johnson and Congressmen) did not support land redistribution to slaves. Thus, they restored lands to their former Caucasian owners. The main purpose of the federal agency was to aid any Southerners, while Southern economy weaned itself off of slavery to a new free-labor system. The Bureau’s jobs were slowly cut down until it completely shut down in 1872.
President Johnson’s veto for the renewal of the Freedmen Bureau in 1866 surprised moderate Republicans, demonstrating his uncompromising and stubborn spirit. He also deemed the bill unconstitutional, opposing the belief that the federal government should protect African-American rights. Dissension between congressional and executive powers increased until Congress overrode Johnson’s veto and passed the Civil Rights Act. The Bureau did not have enough resources or political support to make a dramatic impact on Southern life. After seven years, the Bureau did not fulfill its ideals of an unbiased free-labor system and equal justice and failed to unify the African-Americans and Caucasians, since only Radical Republicans believed that blacks and whites were truly equal.
Primary Sources
PBS Article
The Transcript of Act to establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees
Secondary Sources
American History ABC-CLIO Article Overview on Freedmen's Bureau