Excerpts from The Second Freedman’s Bureau Act, 1866

It was a provision of the original act establishing the Freedmen’s Bureau that Congress would have to renew the agency for it to continue functioning. By spring of 1866 it was clear that much work remained to be done. The transition to free labor had just begun, and an economic downturn was making the shift all the more challenging. In this climate, Congress began debating the provisions under which the Freedmen’s Bureau Act would be renewed. Radical Republicans in Congress sought to enlarge its powers considerably. Their proposal called for making the Bureau a permanent fixture, strengthening its system of independent courts, and providing for liberal homesteading by blacks – the oft-cited promise of “forty acres and a mule.” To the shock of Congress, the conservative President Andrew Johnson vetoed the bill, thus causing dissent among Congressional Republicans and widening the already-present breach between Johnson and Congress. The Republicans went back to the drawing board and recrafted the bill. The Bureau’s life was extended for three years, and the homesteading provisions were removed. This revised  version of the bill passed over Johnson’s veto on July 16.

The act to establish a Bureau for the relief of Freedmen and Refugees . . . shall continue in force for the term of two years from and after the passage of this act. . . .

The Secretary of War [may] issue such medical stores or other supplies and transportation and afford such medical or other aid as may be needful . . . Provided, that no person shall be deemed “destitute,” “suffering,” or “dependent upon the Government for support,” within the meaning of this act, who is able to find employment, and could, by proper industry and exertion, avoid such destitution, suffering, or dependency. . . .

The sales made to “heads of families of the African race,” under the instructions of President Lincoln . . . are hereby confirmed and established; and all leases which have been made to such “heads of families” . . . shall be changed into certificates of sale. . . .  

The [Freedmen’s Bureau] Commissioner shall have power to seize, hold, use, lease, or sell all buildings . . . formerly held under color of title by the late so-called Confederate States, and not heretofore disposed of by the United States, . . . and to use the same or appropriate the proceeds derived therefrom to the education of the freed people. . . .

In every State or district when the ordinary course of judicial proceedings has been interrupted by the rebellion, . . . the right to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property, and to have full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings concerning personal liberty, personal security, and the acquisition, enjoyment, and disposition of estate, real and personal, including the constitutional right to bear arms, shall be secured to and enjoyed by all the citizens of such State or district without respect to race or color, or previous condition of slavery. . . .

Source: Acts and Resolutions, 39 Cong., 1 Sess., p. 191. (Document 4.9.4)