Freedmen's Bureau Essay

The Freedmen’s Bureau, also known as The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, was created in the South after the Civil War in 1865 by Congress with the intention of providing assistance to the less fortunate whites and newly freedmen. Congress had decided that the organization would operate for one year after the end of the Civil War. In 1866, Congress passed a bill which stated that the Bureau continue to function as a peace cooperation for longer than one year, increasing its powers throughout the South. Major General Oliver Otis Howard was the head of the Bureau from 1865 to 1872 under the regulated War Department; he converted from a soldier in the War to a believer in emancipation for all. Ultimately, the Freedmen’s Bureau

took the role to educate freedmen and white southerners the definition of freedom and how to live their lives in a society new to them in every aspect.
The establishment of the Freedmen’s Bureau triggered the beginning of Reconstruction, under General Howard and back up military assistance. The Bureau had five main roots of activity: employment in war struck areas, rules of black labor under new order, justice regarding blacks, administration of property, and education for blacks. The organization gave basic necessities, and clothing to newly freed men, women, and children. It brought families separated during the Civil War together and monitored agreements between freedmen and their former slaves. The Bureau would send massive amounts of food and clothing given by the federal government to poor whites, refugees, and freedmen in the South. Hospitals were built throughout the South for freed slaves and medical assistance was given to them immediately at little given cost. Several schools were also built with certified teachers; many colleges today were founded due to the creation and help of the Bureau.
Although the Bureau had several advantages with its establishment, it also brought about disadvantages within the South. The Radical Republican government used the Bureau to keep control of states preoccupied by the federal government. The Bureau tried extremely hard to make freedmen into landowners, but the efforts were not enough, and it continuously failed. In fact, many freedmen began to work for their owners under contracts. The Bureau was said to be funded by the Congress, but they never received enough money; the military made up most of the financial aid given to the Bureau. In 1865, President Johnson gave white planters their property back, in turn having the Bureau lose much of it’s revenue. This action also led to freedmen not having any hope for their financial independence, due to the deprivation of land.
The Freedmen’s Bureau had several people who were strongly against their institution. President Johnson was a leader rival, and was noticed due to his initial veto in 1866, against the bill Congress had passed in honor of the Bureau. Johnson’s reasoning behind his opposition included that military should not be active during peacetime. He believed that the Bureau would prevent the freedmen from becoming independent, and felt it was unfair because no organization was created to assist poor whites. His final reasons were that Congress should not have the authority to make such powerful decisions, and that the creation of the Bureau was a corporate invasion in different states and their regulations. The Bureau was also disliked by several Southern whites, who played a huge part in inhibiting the goals of the Bureau to be fully achieved. Southern whites, with President Johnson, did their best in taking out employees of the Bureau who seemed to be extra compassionate to freedmen, as well as giving all basic necessities to the whites, which impeded the Bureau from giving full assistance to the ex slaves.
Despite several setbacks in the Bureau, it’s successes had a major impact in every part of Reconstruction. The Freedmen’s Bureau put in all their effort to protect justice for all blacks, and were successful in that aspect. Courts in the South used what is known as “Antebellum Black Codes which were codes which used justice unfairly between whites and blacks.” (). In other words, freedmen were treated with worse punishments for the same crimes a white committed. The Freedmen’s Bureau set up their own three person courts for blacks and whites. In these courts, blacks and whites were treated with equally harsh punishments, and neither race was treated unjustly. Cases in the Bureau's courts usually involved violations of contracts between landowners and freedmen, violent actions, and owners not following their contracts. A year after the creation of the Bureau, Southern courts decided to change the way they judged in courts, and provided more justice during the proceedings to blacks and whites, which allowed for them to regain control of freedmen to be put into trial in their courts. The Bureau kept an eye on the Southern courts due to the fact that they could not provide justice to blacks, and treatment between the freedmen and whites continued to be unequal. The Bureau, because of the continued injustice occurring in Southern courts, gained control of the decisions made in the courts as well the power to revoke settlements which were unjust in cases involving freedmen.
The Bureau was very successful in the field of education. The Freedmen’s Bureau spent a total of “5 million dollars” to build schools and educate blacks, poor whites, and hire teachers (). It also assisted in the transportation of teachers and students from Northern states, and they helped with materials. Many schools were segregated, blacks were treated unjustly, and black children were not sent to school. Despite these few setbacks, the Bureau was very successful in beginning the road to education in the black community, and helped to grow the endless possibilities for freedmen at the time.
Emancipation was defined as the freeing of one from slavery.

With this freedom, it was extremely difficult for freedmen to be reunited with their families, due to the fact that many of the family members were sold away in all different parts of the U.S., when slavery was practiced. The Freedmen’s Bureau played a huge part in this aspect, such that they religiously tried their hardest to reunite entire families, couples, and loved ones. During slavery, men and women married, but when moved to a different owner, remarried multiple times. This was an issue for the man or woman, because the Bureau needed them to decide which spouse or husband they wanted to marry legally. With that in mind, problems also aroused with children from one man who remarried multiple times, and the decision to which ones he had control over was not in his hands, but in fact the Bureau, and they were not always in favor of the freedmen’s desires. Many freedmen were not reunited with their loved ones, because they could not be contacted or found. This was most likely due to the fact that many Southern whites refused to tell their slaves of the emancipation of all slaves, having them to believe they were still

owned.
The Freedmen’s Bureau was set up mostly around many areas of the South, and a few places in the North. Due to it’s location, the Bureau faced a lot hatred from Southern whites , and setting up institutions in the North proved to be very costly. Several whites believed that the blacks would only be allowed to work under their supervision and intimidation. Southerners were distraught at the creation of the Bureau as a whole due to the fact that it was completely “unjustified” during times of Reconstruction, and believed that governments should be in control of deciding the association between the worker and the manager. Despite these faulty agreements backed only by bias, the Bureau continued to work around the Southern aggression, assist blacks, and successfully help in creating a Southern Republic party without realizing it.
Despite the Southern hatred, the South paid for much of the Bureau’s expenses, up to “17 million dollars”. () The Southern states taxed the development of cotton, and all consumer items being bought, which increased the federal treasury. The Massachusetts born and raised, George Peabody, organized the “Peabody Education Fund”, which went towards increasing public education in Southern states. With this fund available, the Bureau was successful in creating several foundations of education. These included places such as Hampton Institute, Howard University, and several universities in Atlanta.
The Freedmen’s Bureau was also very cautious about gender roles.

They refused to allow women to work in the fields, as they did during slavery. The Bureau’s intentions were to receive consent from the head of the family, for the all the members to pick a job to do, with wages, such as picking cotton. Exceptions to the default family rule, included married women who were in steady hands, and abandoned families with children. Some women were tortured during slavery to the extent where their mindset was completely transformed into prostitutes, and once emancipation was given, they were looked at from a totally different perspective. The Bureau viewed them as unsuitable for a free lifestyle, and believed wealth they earned would be used in a wrongful manner.

The Bureau was very passionate about incorporating religion into the minds of freedmen, as were the freedmen eager to create more churches. Whites and blacks were segregated due to issues of controlling churches. Northern missionaries collected money for the buildings, decorations, and necessities for the churches to be presented. The Bureau had a close alliance with other Methodist churches which helped them in seeking areas to use as churches, which had turned out to be successful throughout the

South.
Approximately four million freedmen were assisted and accommodated into society throughout the Bureau’s lifetime. The Bureau fought through the hostility it was treated with, and focused on it’s goals. The Freedmen’s Bureau, despite it’s wealth issues and other setbacks, helped freedmen assimilate into a society they were new coming into. Without the help of the Bureau, the fate of the freedmen would have laid rested upon the white Southerners, who felt nothing but hatred, and longing for slavery to become alive again. The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands was a successful cooperation, in that, the fate of future African Americans was in good hands.