Historical Context in Freedmen's Bureau Bill

Since Congress established the Freedmen’s Bureau within the War Department, the president as commander in chief, the Secretary of War, and the armed forces were largely responsible for assisting the commissioners in their work. This assistance fell under the purview of any military officer’s normal duties, which is why Congress states that no additional pay or allowances will be granted.

Section 2 of the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill specifies the broad range of powers that the Secretary of War has regarding logistical aspects of the bureau’s work. Congress included this provision to clarify that the bureau would exist not only under the direction of the War Department but also under the leadership of the Secretary of War, a decision made after multiple meetings and debates over which Executive department would supervise it.

This act, approved on July 2nd, 1862, requires every elected or appointed official, except for the president, to “subscribe the following oath or affirmation: ‘I, A. B., do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I have never voluntarily borne arms against the United States since I have been a citizen thereof [...]I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic [...] that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter, so help me God.’” This oath has changed over the years, but the essential goal has remained the same: elected officials must affirm their commitment to upholding the Constitution and faithfully perform their duties.

Edwin Stanton served as Secretary of War from 1862 to 1868 under Presidents Lincoln and Johnson. An effective manager and advisor to President Lincoln, Stanton greatly aided the Union war effort. Stanton had an adversarial relationship with President Johnson due to his strong opposition to Johnson’s lenient Reconstruction policies. He eventually supported Republican efforts to oust Johnson from office in 1868. Stanton retired that year and was summarily appointed to the United States Supreme Court; however, he died before he could take that office.

Congress passed the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill on March 3, 1865. The next day, President Lincoln gave his second inaugural address, in which he presented a vision of a country reunited by shared values, a country that had grown stronger through its struggles. As a Republican and abolitionist, Lincoln approved of the creation of the Freedmen’s Bureau. However, after his assassination just a month later, federal efforts to protect the freed slaves came under the supervision of Andrew Johnson, a southern Democrat who had opposed the bureau’s creation in the first place.

To preemptively ward off attempts to delegitimize or disempower the Freedmen’s Bureau, Republican lawmakers included Section 5. This sentence gives the aims of the Freedmen’s Bureau priority over any other piece of legislation that might clash with the bill or block any of its measures.

Congress intended to finance and support the Freedmen’s Bureau for one year after the end of the Civil War. However, due to the persistence of bigotry in Southern states through the Southern “black codes” and opposition from President Johnson, Congress passed another Freedmen’s Bureau Bill on July 3rd, 1866, and overrode President Johnson’s veto on July 16th. This second act extended the duration and power of the bureau, distributing more land to ex-slaves, providing schools for children, and allowing military courts to ensure these rights were provided. Congress extended the bureau’s lifespan again in 1868. It was eventually closed in June of 1872.

Section 4 of the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill addresses two problems at once. First, there was the problem of providing properties where freedmen—many of whom owned no land—a place to live. Second, there was the question of what to do with the numerous tracts of “abandoned lands” across the South, results of the Civil War. The solution, as set forth in the bill, is to rent forty-acre lots of abandoned land to each male freedman at a rate of six percent of its value. The bill stipulates that, after three years, the renters will have the opportunity to purchase and own the land. In reality, freedmen were more commonly given employment on the lands of white landowners rather than receiving and working land of their own.

In March of 1865, the Civil War was in its fifth and final year. As Lincoln noted in his “Second Inaugural Address,” with a Union victory in sight, the Union must shift its focus to reintegrating the rebel states. However, since the war was based on fundamental disagreements regarding the institution of slavery, reunification was fraught with perils. Despite the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment in January, 1865, the Union sought to provide the newly freed slaves with the basic necessities to survive in a reunited nation. The establishment of the Freedmen’s Bureau aimed to do just that.

The name of the Freedmen’s Bureau suggests that its primary focus was on freedmen, or former slaves who had been emancipated. However, the inclusion of “refugees,” or those displaced during war, provides for slaves who escaped their bondage in the Union border states where slavery still existed. Since a Constitutional amendment had yet to abolish slavery in the entire nation, the inclusion of refugees in the scope of the Freedmen’s Bureau ensures that all ex-slaves will be provided for.

The United States Department of War was formed by Congress on August 7th, 1789, and placed under the direction of the president, as commander in chief. Conceived as a civilian agency that would administer the army under the president and the secretary of war, the department stood until September 18th, 1947, when it was split into the Department of the Army and the Department of the Air Force, which joined the Department of the Navy to become the United States Department of Defense.

Pursuant to this clause, assistant commissioners were assigned to the Southern states, mostly during June and July of 1865. Despite the clause limiting them to “ten in number,” thirteen assistant commissioners were assigned, including one for Washington, D.C., which had not been stipulated in the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill.

The treasurer of the United States during the time of the Freedmen’s Bureau was Francis E. Spinner, who served in the role from 1861 to 1875. A progressively minded Republican, Spinner was best known for offering federal employment to women, whom he hired as clerks—an unprecedented but pivotal and lasting move.

The first and only commissioner of the Freedmen’s Bureau was Oliver O. Howard, who had serves as a brigadier general in the Union Army during the Civil War. His record during the war was marked by numerous defeats but devoted service and a sterling reputation for ethical behavior—he was nicknamed “the Christian General.” He proved more effectual in his years as commissioner, expanding the powers of the Freedmen’s Bureau to provide food, education, and medical care to freedmen. It was the first instance in US history when the federal government operated as a force for such broad social welfare. Howard and President Johnson clashed bitterly. Howard chafed under Johnson’s attempts to reign in the Bureau, answering instead to his fellow Radical Republicans in Congress. Johnson was furious at Howard’s attempts to establish his own authority, far beyond the reckoning of the oval office.