314 



FREEDMEN, REFUGEES, AND ABANDONED LANDS. 



of country within the territory embraced in the 

 operations of the army. It was to be under the 

 management of a commissioner to be appointed 

 by the President, with a salary of $3,000, who 

 was to be aided by ten clerks. The commis- 

 sioner was to give bonds in $50,000, and his 

 chief clerk in $10,000 more. The President 

 was also authorized to appoint assistant com- 

 missioners, not exceeding ten in number, for 

 each of the States declared to be in insurrec- 

 tion, each of whom was to give bonds in $20,- 

 000, and was to receive a salary of $2,500. 

 Military officers could be detailed and assigned 

 to duty under this act without increase of pay 

 or allowances. As no money was appropriated, 

 it was evidently intended that all the Bureau 

 officers should be taken from the army. And 

 the Secretary of War was empowered to direct 

 such issues of provisions, clothing, and fuel, as 

 he should deem needful for the immediate and 

 temporary shelter and supply of destitute and 

 suffering refugees and freedmen, with their 

 wives and children. 



The act further provided that the commis- 

 sioner should be authorized to set apart for the 

 use of loyal refugees and freedmen such tracts 

 of land within the insurrectionary States as 

 should have been abandoned by the owners, or 

 to which the United States should have ac- 

 quired title ; and to every male citizen, whether 

 refugee or freedman, forty acres of land were 

 assigned ; and the refugee or freedman was to 

 be protected in the use and enjoyment of the 

 land for three years at a rental of six per cen- 

 tum on its taxable value. And at the end of 

 three years the lands could be purchased by 

 the occupant upon payment of its value, re- 

 ceiving such title as the United States could 

 convey. 



There is no mention of education in the act. 

 It was intended for the support and protection 

 of refugees and freedmen, and to insure them 

 a home out of confiscated lands. 



On the 2d of June, President Johnson issued 

 an order that all officers of the Treasury De- 

 partment, all military officers, and all others in 

 the service of the United States, should turn 

 over to the officers of the Bureau all abandoned 

 lands and property contemplated in the origi- 

 nal act, now in their possession ; they were 

 also to turn over to them all funds collected 

 by tax, or otherwise, for the benefit of refugees 

 or freedmen, or arising from abandoned lands, 

 or from property set apart for their use. 



A further bill, to continue the Bureau for 

 two years after its passage, was enacted July 

 16, 1866, passing both Houses by a two-thirds 

 majority over a presidential veto. This bill 

 greatly enlarged tlae scope of the Bureau, giv- 

 ing the commissioner discretionary power over 

 its funds, and extending "to all loyal refugees 

 and freedmen, so far as the same shall be ne- 

 cessary to enable them as speedily as prac- 

 ticable to become self-supporting citizens of 

 the United States, and to aid them in making 

 the freedom conferred by proclamation of the 



commander-in-chief, by emancipation under 

 the laws of States, and by constitutional 

 amendment, available to them, and beneficial 

 to the republic." The same act authorized 

 the commissioner to appoint as many agents, 

 clerks, and assistants, as he should deem 

 necessary ; and military officers, or enlisted 

 men, could be detailed for this purpose. And 

 power was given to the commissioner to seize, 

 use, lease, or sell, all lands and buildings for- 

 merly held under color of title by the late so- 

 called Confederate States, and appropriate the 

 proceeds to the education of the freed people ; 

 and, when the Bureau should cease to exist, 

 such of the Confederate States as should make 

 provision for the education of their citizens, 

 without distinction of color, were to receive 

 all sums remaining unexpended from such sales 

 or rentals. The commissioner was also au- 

 thorized to cooperate with private benevolent 

 associations of citizens in aid of freedmen, and 

 to hire buildings for their schools when such 

 associations provide the teachers ; and he was 

 to furnish protection for the safe-conduct of 

 such schools. And, wherever the ordinary 

 course of judicial proceedings was interrupted 

 by the war, the commissioner was author- 

 ized to extend military protection to, and have 

 military jurisdiction concerning, the free en- 

 joyment of all immunities and rights over 

 all citizens of the insurrectionary States with- 

 out respect to race, color, or previous condition 

 of slavery, especially in regard to the right to 

 make and enforce contracts, sue, and be parties 

 to suits, own real estate, and bear arms. 



By the act of March 2, 1867, making appro- 

 priations for the army, $500,000 was appro- 

 priated for schools and asylums, including their 

 construction, rental, and repairs. 



In July, 1868, Congress enacted that the 

 Bureau should continue in force for one year 

 from and after July 16, 1868, and the Secretary 

 of War was directed to reestablish said Bureau 

 where the same has been wholly or in part dis- 

 continued, provided the personal safety of the 

 freedmen should require it. This act was pre- 

 sented to the President for his approval, and, 

 not being signed by him, nor vetoed, was de- 

 clared by the Department of State to have 

 become a law without his approval. By this 

 law the Secretary of War was ordered to dis- 

 continue the operations of the Bureau in any 

 State restored in its constitutional relations 

 and represented in Congress, unless, on con- 

 sultation with the commissioner, he should be 

 of the opinion that the further continuance of 

 the Bureau would be necessary. But it was 

 provided that the educational division of the 

 Bureau should not be affected or interfered 

 with, until the State should have made suitable 

 provision for the education of the children of 

 the freedmen. The law also provided that 

 unexpended balances in the hands of the com- 

 missioner might, in the discretion of the com- 

 missioner, be applied to the education of freed- 

 men and refugees. 



