The Freedmen’s Bureau
Reaction to Reconstruction
After the defeat of the South, the Southern States entered a period of radical reconstruction.
The legislative body of the US government, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives. brought in a series of new laws to force the defeated Southern States to accept major changes in how they ran their affairs. Many of the changes were resented by Southerners.
The US government was very concerned about helping the freed slaves. Thousands of them were on the move throughout the South: homeless, hungry, poor and suffering from disease. Something had to be done to help them.
In March 1865, Congress created An agency established by Abraham Lincoln to help millions of former black slaves and poor whites in the South. or to give it it’s correct title: The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands.
Aims of the Bureau
- the setting up of a health programme and opening hospitals
- distributing rations
- setting up schools
- offering legal assistance to former slaves
- settling confiscated or abandoned land
