CHAPTER XXIV.

THE FREEDMEN'S BUREAU.

ACT CREATING IT-ITS PURPOSES AND SCOPE

SUPPLEMENTARY ACT- PRESIDENT JOHNSON'S VETO OVERRULED - HIS OBJECTIONS TO THE PROPOSED LAW LARGE APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE BUREAU-THE COMMISSIONER AND HIS SUBORDINATES

CHARGES PREFERRED AGAINST THE COMMISSIONER IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES BY FERNANDO WOOD OF NEW-YORK INVESTIGATION BY A COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE – MAJORITY AND MINORITY REPORTS ERECTION OF THE HOWARD UNIVERSITY-THE BARRY FARM — DISASTROUS ATTEMPT TO ESTABLISH A COLORED COLONY ON IT FAILURE OF THE FREEDMEN'S BANK - DISASTROUS CLOSE TO THE WHOLE SCHEME.

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HISTORY of reconstruction, which failed to present the leading features of the Freedmen's Bureau and the character of its operations, would be incomplete. The measure for the creation of that bureau originated during the first session of the Thirty-eighth Congress. It became a law on the 3d of March, 1865. It was entitled, “An Act to establish a bureau for the relief of freedmen and refugees." It provided for such bureau being established in the War Department, to continue "during the present war of rebellion and for one year thereafter." The control of all abandoned lands in the states recently in rebellion, and of all subjects relating to freedmen and to refugees from the Confederate States, or from any district of country embraced in the territory covered by the operations of the army, was committed to this bureau under regulations to be prescribed by its head and to be approved by the President. The commissioner was to be appointed by the President at a salary of $3,000 per annum. was required to give bond in the sum of $50,000.

He

The Secretary of War was authorized by this law to issue provisions, clothing, and fuel for the immediate and temporary shelter and supply of destitute and suffering refugees and freedmen and their families. Assistant commissioners were to be appointed for each of the ten insurrectionary states.

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BUREAU.

443 They were to aid in the execution of the act. Officers of the army might be assigned to duty under the act. The assistant commissioners were required to report quarterly to the commissioner. He was required to report annually to the President before the commencement of each session of Congress.

The commissioner was authorized, under the direction of the President, to set apart for the use of loyal refugees and freedmen, such tracts of land within the insurrectionary states as were abandoned, or to which the United States Government had acquired title by confiscation, sale, or otherwise. Of these lands a tract of not more than forty acres might be assigned to every male citizen, whether refugee or freedman; and the person to whom it was so assigned was to be protected in the use and enjoyment of the land for the term of three years. He was to pay an annual rent not exceeding six per centum of the value of the land, as appraised by the state authorities for the purpose of taxation in the year 1860. In case there was no such appraisal, then the rental was to be based upon the estimated value of the land in that year. This was to be ascertained in such manner as the commissioner might prescribe. At the end of such term, or at any time during the term, the occupant of any parcel so assigned might purchase the land and receive such title thereto as the United States Government could convey, upon paying for the land its value as so ascertained.

In February, 1866, Congress passed an act to amend the foregoing act. It provided that this legislation should continue in force, not for one year after the close of the war, as in the original bill, but until otherwise provided by law. It extended its operations to refugees and freedmen in all parts of the Union. Provision was also made for dividing the districts into sub-districts, and for placing all persons connected with the bureau under military authority. The Secretary of War was empowered to order the issue of provisions, clothing, fuel, and other supplies, including medical stores and transportation, and to afford such aid, medical or otherwise, as he might deem needful for the immediate temporary shelter and supply of destitute and suffering refugees and freedmen, their wives and children. None were to be deemed destitute and suffering, who, being able to find employment, could by proper exertion, avoid such destitution.

The President was authorized to reserve from sale or settlement under the homestead or pre-emption laws, and to set apart for the freedmen and loyal refugees, male and female, unoccupied lands in Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Arkansas. They were not to exceed in all, three millions of acres of good land. These lands were to be assigned in parcels not exceeding forty acres each to the loyal refugees and freedmen, who were to be protected in the enjoyment of the same. They were to pay an annual rent, to be agreed upon between them and the commissioners of the Freedmen's Bureau. At their option the renters might purchase the lands at a price to be agreed on. The occupants of land, under General Sherman's

field order, dated at Savannah, Jan. 16, 1865, were to be protected in the enjoyment of the same for three years, against the claim of the former owners. Suitable buildings were to be erected by the bureau for asylums and schools. It was made the duty of the President to extend military protection to the freedmen in all cases in which any state or local law or regulation denied them equal rights with white people. It was made a misdemeanor, punishable by fine and imprisonment, for any person, under color of any state or local law, to subject any freedman to the deprivation of any civil right secured to white persons. The officers of the bureau were authorized to take jurisdiction of all such cases.

This supplementary act was met by the veto of President Johnson, dated Feb. 19, 1866; but it was passed by both houses two days subsequently, notwithstanding the objections of the President, by more than the requisite two-thirds majority.

Preliminary to the statement of his constitutional objections to the bill, the President suggested that there was no immediate necessity for the measure, inasmuch as the original act had not expired; as that act conferred extensive powers; and as further experience of its effects was needed as a guide to additional legislation. The President expressed the strong desire which he shared with Congress, to secure to the freedmen the full enjoyment of their freedom and property; but he suggested that the bill contained provisions which were, in his opinion, at war with the Constitution. It proposed to establish, by authority of Congress, military jurisdiction over all parts of the United States containing refugees and freedmen, and to extend the existing temporary jurisdiction of the Freedmen's Bureau, with greatly enlarged powers, over those states in which the ordinary course of judiciał proceedings had been interrupted by the rebellion. In those eleven states the bill subjected any white person who might be charged with depriving a freedman of civil rights or immunities, to imprisonment or fine, or both, without, however, defining the "civil rights or immunities" that were thus to be secured to the freedmen by military law. This military jurisdiction was also extended to all questions that might arise respecting contracts. The agent who was thus to exercise the office of a military judge might be a stranger entirely ignorant of the local laws and exposed to errors of judgThis exercise of power over which there was no legal supervision, by a vast number of agents would necessarily be attended by acts of caprice, injustice and passion. The trials originating under the law were to take place without the intervention of a jury and without any fixed rules of law or evidence; and the punishment would be, not what the law declared, but that which a court-martial might think proper. From these arbitrary tribunals there was no appeal provided, no writ of error to any of the constitutional courts of the country.

ment.

The President also objected to the bill because it had no limitation in

CONSTITUTIONAL OBJECTIONS.

445

point of time, but would form a part of the permanent legislation of the country. He could not reconcile such a system of military jurisdiction with the provision of the Constitution that "no person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless upon a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land and naval forces, or in the militia when in actual service in time of war or public danger," and that "in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the state or district wherein the crime shall have been committed." This bill proposed, he said, to set aside all the safeguards which experience and wisdom had established as securities for the protection of the innocent, the punishment of the guilty, and the equal administration of justice. Such a measure could only be justified while war continued. There was at that time no part of the country in which the authority of the United States was disputed, and it was impolitic, as well as unconstitutional, to disturb commerce, credit, and industry by declaring to the world that the United States was still in a condition of civil war. He argued, that although, during the war many refugees and freedmen had received support from the government, it had never been intended that they should thenceforth be fed, clothed, educated, and sheltered at public expense. On the contrary, the idea on which the slaves were assisted to freedom was, that on becoming free, they would be a self-sustaining population. Any legislation that implied that they were not expected to attain a self-sustaining condition, must necessarily have a tendency injurious alike to their character and their prospects.

The President also pointed out, in further detail, that the power conferred by this bill of appointing agents and clerks for every county and parish in the late insurrectionary states would involve an immense addition to the President's patronage. The annual expenditure was $11,750,000 under the original bill. It would probably be doubled by the one under consideration. The maintenance of military rule in the South would require the presence of troops there. Thus, large appropriations would become necessary to enforce military jurisdiction. In addition to these objections, the President pointed out that the fifth section of the bill proposed to take away land from its former owners without any legal proceedings being first had. This was contrary to that provision of the Constitution which declares that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. He urged other objections to the bill, based on considerations of the permanent welfare of the freedmen themselves and of the general good of society. It is difficult, indeed, to imagine how a candid mind could resist the force of the President's objections to the bill, founded on its infractions of the Constitution and its invasions of the liberty of the people; but nevertheless his objections were overruled, and the bill became a law. Various other amendments to the law were passed from time to time, and large appropriations to

defray the expenses of maintaining the bureau and its wards, the freedmen and refugees, were made at every session for several years afterwards. Thus, in the army appropriation bill for the year ending June 30, 1867, about seven million dollars was appropriated for those purposes. This included these items: For commissary stores, $3,106,250; for transportation, $1,320,000; for clothing for distribution, $1,170,000; for repairs and rent of school houses and asylums, $500,000; for medical department, $500,000; for salaries of assistant and sub-assistant commissioners, $147,500; for salaries of clerks, $82,800. Like appropriations were also made on the army appropriation bill for the succeeding fiscal year, some of the items being largely increased, as, for instance, the item of fuel from $15,900 to $200,000. On the other hand, the appropriation for commissary stores was reduced from $3,106,250 to $1,500,000. This shows that the number of dependent freedmen had very largely diminished within the year. The item for transportation was reduced from $1,320,000 to $800,000. Inasmuch, however, as nearly every negro and refugee who desired to return to his original home must have done so long before this item was available, it is not easy to see how it could have been honestly expended.

Rumors reflecting upon the administration of the bureau had indeed been afloat ever since its organization. The commissioner, Gen. Oliver O. Howard, was a man more remarkable for piety than for practical talent. He did not possess high administrative abilities. He had not had the experience and training which would qualify him for the efficient discharge of these peculiar duties. His assistant commissioners and the subordinate bureau agents were, like himself, appointed almost without exception from officers of the army; and some of them acquired the reputation of making use of their opportunities inore for the sake of promoting their own fortunes than for aiding and protecting the colored people. Many of them were said to have acquired landed estates in the localities where they were stationed, and to have cultivated them cheaply and profitably with the negro labor which they could largely control. Others were reported as being in the receipt of large allowances from planters for aid rendered in preventing the negro hands from abandoning field work. Many others ran for political positions. By the help of the colored vote they were elected to Congress, to the state legislatures, and to various state and county offices. All this was calculated to excite, and did excite, a very bitter feeling of distrust and animosity against the agents of the bureau in all the Southern States, where the scornful term of "carpet-bagger" was applied to them in common with other political adventurers from the North.

The commissioner himself was far from escaping suspicion. He underwent severe criticism, particularly in connection with the establishment, in a suburb of Washington, of a college for the higher education of colored youth, called after himself, the Howard University. Attention was attracted to