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Difino
| • | The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, popularly known as the Freedmen's Bureau was an agency of the government of the United States that was formed to aid distressed refugees of the United States Civil War, including former slaves and poor white farmers. The Bureau also controlled confiscated lands or property in the former Confederate States, some border states, the District of Columbia and Indian Territory. The Bureau was established on March 3, 1865 by the United States Congress and administered by the United States Department of War, and headed by Union general Oliver O. Howard.
Its main purpose was to help the newly-freed former slaves acquire some of the things that they had previously been denied, such as at least a rudimentary education and an opportunity to learn job skills outside manual labor. Not wanting to face this new potential competition, it was probably the least popular of all Reconstruction measures among white Southerners, and was one of the first to be abolished.
The Bureau was an important institution of the Reconstruction period, and it was one of very few organizations that truly sought to improve the lives of blacks through the entire South. Unfortunately, the Bureau never was able to achieve its full potential due to budget cuts and limited jurisdiction. That didnࢀ&#-2508; stop Howard from trying though. His loose interpretation of the legislation creating the Bureau allowed it to help blacks in many ways that were never thought possible. The Freedmenࢀ&#-2509; Bureau was very helpful to many blacks in the poverty-stricken South. Indeed, no other organization would exist that would do as much for African-Americans for more than 50 years. However, the Freedmen's Bureau did come in for much criticism in the South. Many accused it of agitating Blacks against the former ruling white classes of the South. This led to anti-white violence where none had existed before. Also, the Bureau promised Blacks that the plantation lands of their former owners would be divided up and given to them, if they voted Republican. The Bureau was widely seen as using underhand measures to ensure that Republicans gained a strong hold ove
Source: [wikipedia: bureau of refugees, freedmen and abandoned lands]
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