Freedmen's Bureau(1865)
The Freedmen's Bureau was a government program enabling African-Americans to receive government aid like medical care, which they had been previously denied under slavery. The establishment of the Freedmen's Bureau inspired Black operated hospitals to be developed gaining them medical rights.
Opposition - Veto of The Freedmen's Bureau Bill
President Andrew Johnson vetoed the Freedman Bureau bill because the bill favored black Americans over white Americans. “This is a country for white men, and by God, as long as I am President, it shall be a government for white men.” -Andrew Johnson by Hans Louis Trefousse, W.W. Norton & Company, 1997, pg. 236
Congress disagreed and overrode his veto. "But the bill before me contains provisions which, in my opinion, are not warranted by the Constitution and are not well suited to accomplish the end in view." -President Andrew Johnson
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"An Act to establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees" |
March 3, 1865-Freedmen's Bureau Bill Passed
After emancipation of the slaves, a Freedmen's Bureau was established by the government, "It provided provisions, clothing and fuel to refugees, freedmen, and their wives and children; it assisted in reuniting black families; it supervised labor agreements between blacks and their former masters; it monitored state and local officials’ treatment of the former slaves; it established informal tribunals to settle disputes between whites and blacks and among African Americans themselves; it instituted clinics and hospitals for the former slaves; and it aided efforts to provide freed people education in the Civil War’s immediate aftermath. The agency distributed trainloads of food and clothing provided by the federal government to freed slaves and Southern white refugees. The Bureau built hospitals for the freed slaves and gave direct medical aid to more than 1 million of them. " -U.S., Statutes at Large, Treaties, and Proclamations of the United States of America, vol. 13(Boston, 1866), pp. 507–9.
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Collapse of Freedmen's Bureau in 1872
The Freedmen Bureau was eventually dismantled due to lack of funds and racial disparities in 1872. The Bureau led to government interference of social welfare, and although dismantled, "The Bureau helped awaken Americans to the promise of freedom, and for a time, the Bureau’s physical presence in the South made palpable to many citizens the abstract principles of equal access to the law and free labor." -The Freedmen's Bureau and Reconstruction