An Act to Establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees

Legislation

By: U.S. Congress

Date: March 3, 1865

Source: Freedmen's Bureau Act. Statutes at Large of the United States of America 13 (1866): 507–509.

About the Author: The thirty-eighth Congress met in two sessions from March 4, 1963 to March 3, 1965. This legislation was passed on the final day of the Congress's second session.

INTRODUCTION

The legislation required to establish the Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees was enacted in March 1865. The objectives of what came to be known as the Freedmen's Bureau were to enforce the civil and legal rights of black Americans and of pro-Union southerners, to assist freed slaves in becoming educated, and to aid them in gaining a means of economic survival. One of the major efforts of the Freed-men's Bureau was the creation of schools at every level, from primary and secondary through vocational and industrial schools, to colleges, and universities for black Americans. The Freedmen's Bureau was also instrumental in the creation and implementation of the public school system in the United States, in encouraging legislation mandating compulsory education, and in promoting the funding and development of colleges and universities across America.

In 1866, General Oliver Otis Howard was nominated by General Ulysses S. Grant to head up the Freedmen's Bureau. Howard had a deep belief in the value and power of education and was committed to the construction, development, implementation, and nationwide expansion of a multi-level school system for African Americans. Howard believed that it was only through advanced education that the black population could truly become free, and he set about creating a college, university, and professional education system with which to achieve that goal. In part, his opinions regarding the structure of the educational framework were based on successful European systems. It was also based upon a growing belief among educators that a public program for education was essential to the development of an advanced society, as well as to true equality among all citizens.

For the first couple of years after it was created, there was no governmental funding with which to carry out the programs of the Freedmen's Bureau. Howard put together contributions from aid organizations, relief societies, and philanthropists with available funds from abandoned cotton revenues—taxes on cotton crops, monies generated by harvesting cotton from former plantations, and the like—to pay for the creation of the necessary infrastructure. Howard was able to generate sufficient revenue to keep the Bureau's programs entirely funded until it was subsidized by the War Department.

PRIMARY SOURCE

CHAP. XC.—AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A BUREAU FOR THE RELIEF OF FREEDMEN AND REFUGEES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby established in the War Department, to continue during the present war of rebellion, and for one year thereafter, a bureau of refugees, freedmen, and abandoned lands, to which shall be committed, as hereinafter provided, the supervision and management of all abandoned lands, and the control of all subjects relating to refugees and freedmen from rebel states, or from any district of country within the territory embraced in the operations of the army, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the head of the bureau and approved by the President. The said bureau shall be under the management and control of a commissioner to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, whose compensation shall be three thousand dollars per annum, and such number of clerks as may be assigned to him by the Secretary of War, not exceeding one chief clerk, two of the fourth class, two of the third class, and five of the first class. And the commissioner and all persons appointed under this act, shall, before entering upon their duties, take the oath of office prescribed in an act entitled "An act to prescribe an oath of office, and for other purposes," approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and the commissioner and the chief clerk shall, before entering upon their duties, give bonds to the treasurer of the United States, the former in the sum of fifty thousand dollars, and the latter in the sum of ten thousand dollars, conditioned for the faithful discharge of their duties respectively, with securities to be approved as sufficient by the Attorney-General, which bonds shall be filed in the office of the first comptroller of the treasury, to be by him put in suit for the benefit of any injured party upon any breach of the conditions thereof.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of War may direct such issues of provisions, clothing, and fuel, as he may deem needful for the immediate and temporary shelter and supply of destitute and suffering refugees and freedmen and their wives and children, under such rules and regulations as he may direct.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the President may, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint an assistant commissioner for each of the states declared to be in insurrection, not exceeding ten in number, who shall, under the direction of the commissioner, aid in the execution of the provisions of this act; and he shall give a bond to the Treasurer of the United States, in the sum of twenty thousand dollars, in the form and manner prescribed in the first section of this act. Each of said commissioners shall receive an annual salary of two thousand five hundred dollars in full compensation for all his services. And any military officer may be detailed and assigned to duty under this act without increase of pay or allowances. The commissioner shall, before the commencement of each regular session of congress, make full report of his proceedings with exhibits of the state of his accounts to the President, who shall communicate the same to congress, and shall also make special reports whenever required to do so by the President or either house of congress; and the assistant commissioners shall make quarterly reports of their proceedings to the commissioner, and also such other special reports as from time to time may be required.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the commissioner, under the direction of the President, shall have authority to set apart, for the use of loyal refugees and freedmen, such tracts of land within the insurrectionary states as shall have been abandoned, or to which the United States shall have acquired title by confiscation or sale, or otherwise, and to every male citizen, whether refugee or freedman, as aforesaid, there shall be assigned not more than forty acres of such land, and the person to whom it was so assigned shall be protected in the use and enjoyment of the land for the term of three years at an annual rent not exceeding six per centum upon the value of such land, as it was appraised by the state authorities in the year eighteen hundred and sixty, for the purpose of taxation, and in case no such appraisal can be found, then the rental shall be based upon the estimated value of the land in said year, to be ascertained in such manner as the commissioner may by regulation prescribe. At the end of said term, or at any time during said term, the occupants of any parcels so assigned may purchase the land and receive such title thereto as the United States can convey, upon paying therefor the value of the land, as ascertained and fixed for the purpose of determining the annual rent aforesaid.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed.

APPROVED, March 3, 1865.

SIGNIFICANCE

In addition to its educational and job training activities, the Freedmen's Bureau was first responsible for ensuring that the newly freed, and largely disenfranchised, former slaves and refugees—non-slaves who had sympathized with the Union cause during the Civil War—had adequate food, clothing, supplies, and shelter, and that as many as possible of their medical needs were properly met. The bureau was not funded by the government, but was able to generate revenues through a variety of ingenious means, among which was the management of lands and properties confiscated from the former Confederacy. Eventually, it received a small subsidy from the War Department as well.

The bureau was originally intended as a transitional program and was approved for only one year when it was established on March 3, 1865. On July 16, 1866, the bureau was reauthorized and the former slave states were organized into ten regions, each of which had an Assistant Commissioner. Oliver Otis Howard served as the overall Bureau Commissioner, and the bureau functioned under the aegis of the War Department.

Among the statutory responsibilities of the Freed-men's Bureau was the provision of food and other necessary rations; the dispensation of medical care, supplies and medications; procurement of shelter and oversight of resettlement efforts; adjudication of disputes and management of legal and criminal justice issues; job oversight and regulation of labor and work-force issues; utilization and management oversight of abandoned and confiscated properties, businesses, and lands; and creation of a means of education by establishing schools and other trainings and learning institutions. Although the bureau worked conscientiously to fulfill all of its myriad responsibilities, its most notable success was in the area of education. Statistics published in the Semiannual Reports on Schools for Freedmen indicated that more than 4,000 schools were eventually built, which were staffed by nearly 10,000 teachers. By 1870, more than 250,000 students were in the educational system created by the Freed-men's Bureau.

Another significant area of bureau activity involved the negotiation of labor contracts. For the first time, many former slaves were to be paid by employers—some of whom were their former owners. The freedmen lacked both education and the ability to engage in meaningful discourse about labor-related issues, an area that was completely foreign to both the freedmen and the former owners. As a result, the bureau provided training in contract negotiation. It also acted as a sort of employment agency, serving as a conduit between white employers who were in need of workers and freedmen in need of work. The successes achieved in the development and implementation of educational systems for black Americans, as well as the creation of a culture in which African Americans, for the first time, could exercise personal choice regarding where they would work and what they would do, had an enormous, and long-lasting, positive impact for the freedmen and refugees.

One of the most serious social issues embedded in the American slavery system was the dissolution of families and the severing of affectional ties. Slaves were not permitted to marry legally. Family members could be separated and sold to different owners, making it nearly impossible to keep track of one another's whereabouts. In addition, the same slave was often repeatedly sold. In the case of children, time and changing circumstances made it very difficult for babies and children sold as slaves to be reunited with their families after emancipation. One of the many tasks of the Freedmen's Bureau was to assist family members with their attempts at locating and reuniting with relatives, as well as to assist the former slaves with grasping and adopting the concepts of family structure, as conceptualized by white Americans.

The Freedman's Bureau dealt with the problems of the freedmen and refugees on a grassroots, daily basis for three years, and on a more limited basis for another four. In addition to its successes in education and employment, it was able to provide medical care and assistance to more than one million people over the course of its existence. It also helped African Americans secure the funds and facilities to establish churches and other places of worship, which had not been permitted during slavery. Although the Freedman's Bureau had many significant accomplishments, it remains best known for its role in implementing, promoting, and providing for a system of education for black Americans.

FURTHER RESOURCES

Books

Anderson, James D. The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860–1935. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988.

Bently, George R. A History of the Freedmen's Bureau. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1955.

Berlin, Ira. Slaves No More. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Butchart, Ronald V. Northern Schools, Southern Blacks, and Reconstruction: Freedmen's Education, 1862–1875. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1980.

Finley, Randy. From Slavery to Freedom. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1996.

Foner, Eric. A Short History of Reconstruction. New York: Harper & Row, 1990.

Lawson, Bill E., and Howard McGary. Between Slavery and Freedom. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992.

Litwack, Leon F. Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery. New York: Vintage Books, 1980.

Periodicals

Cimbala, Paul. "On the Front Line of Freedom: Freedmen's Bureau Officers and Agents in Reconstruction Georgia, 1865–1868." Georgia Historical Quarterly 76 (1992): 577–l611.

Crouch, Barry A. "The 'Chords of Love:' Legalizing Black Marital and Family Rights in Postwar Texas." Journal of Negro History 79 (1994): 334–345.

DuBois, W. E. Burghardt. "The Freedmen's Bureau." Atlantic Monthly 87 (1901): 354–365.

Lieberman, Robert C. "The Freedmen's Bureau and the Politics of Institutional Structure." Social Science History 18 (1994): 405–437.