History of the Antislavery Measures of the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth United States Congresses, 1861-65, by Henry Wilson, 1865.

CHAPTER XXVI.

A BUREAU OF FREEDMEN. —FINAL ACTION.

HOUSE NON-CONCUR IN THE SENATE AMENDMENT. — COMMITTEE OF CONFERENCE. — REPORT OF THE CONFERENCE COMMITTEE, — REMARKS OF MR. KERNAN. — MOTION TO LAY THE REPORT ON THE TABLE LOST. — REMARKS OF MR. SCHENCK, — REPORT ACCEPTED, — REMARKS OF MR. SUMNER. — MR. DAVIS. — MR. HENDRICKS. — MR. GRIMES, — MR. SPRAGUE, — MR. SUMNER, — MR. GRIMES, — MR. HENDERSON. — MR. HALE. MR. CONNESS. — MR. MORRILL, MR. JOHNSON. — MR. HARLAN. — REPORT OF THE CONFEEENCE COMMITTEE REJECTED. — THE SENATE ASK ANOTHER CONFERENCE. — THE HOUSE AGREE TO A COMMITTEE OF CONFERENCE, MR. WILSON REPORTS A BILL FEOM THE CONFEEENCE COMMITTEE. — REMARKS OF MR. POWELL, — MR. HOWARD. — REPORT ACCEPTED. — REPORT ACCEPTED BY THE HOUSE.

ON the 20th of December, the House of Representatives took up for consideration Mr. Eliot's bill to establish a Bureau of Freedmen's Affairs, which had been postponed from the last session to that day. Mr. Eliot moved to non-concur in the Senate's amendment, and ask a Committee of Conference. Mr. Holman moved to lay the Senate’s amendment on the table, — yeas 51, nays 71, The House then non-concurred in the Senate’s amendment, asked a Committee of Conference, and Mr. Eliot (Rep.) of Massachusetts, Mr. Kelley (Rep.) of Pennsylvania, and Mr. Noble (Dem.) of Ohio were appointed conferees on the part of the House. The Senate agreed to the Conference, and Mr. Sumner (Rep.) of Massachusetts, Mr. Howard (Rep.) of Michigan, and Mr. Buckalew (Dem.) of Pennsylvania were appointed conferees on the part of the Senate.

Page 406 In the House, on the 2d of February, 1865, Mr. Eliot, from the Committee of Conference, reported, that the Senate recede from their amendment, and that the Committee agree to a substitute for the House bill. This report was signed by Mr. Eliot and Mr. Kelly on the part of the House, and Mr. Sumner and Mr. Howard on the part of the Senate : Mr. Noble and Mr. Buckalew the Democratic members did not sign It, Mr. Eliot explained briefly the action of the Committee, and the provisions of the bill. The House bill attached the Bureau to the War Department ; the Senate amendment attached the Bureau to the Treasury Department. The first section of the bill agreed upon by the Conference Committee creates a Department of Freedmen and Abandoned Lands. The department is established at the seat of government ; and the first section of the bill puts under the care of the department the lands and other property falling to the national Government in the rebel States, and not heretofore appropriated to other uses. The Commissioner is to be appointed by the President. '' Now, sir," said Mr. Eliot, " this bill presents to the House no new proposition. Substantially, every provision contained there will be found, I believe, either in the provisions of the House bill, or in the provisions of the Senate bill. Many of them are combinations of features of both bills. Mr. Kernan (Dem.) of New York earnestly opposed the acceptance of the report, believing that " the policy proposed to be Inaugurated by this bill will not accomplish the benevolent intentions of its promoters." Mr. Eldridge (Dem.) of Wisconsin moved that the whole subject be laid on the table, — yeas 67, Page 407 nays 83. The report was then postponed one week, and ordered to be printed.

On the 9th, Mr. Eliot called up the report, and further explained its provisions. Mr. Wilson (Rep.) of Iowa called attention to the section authorizing the Commissioner to make provision with humane and suit able persona for the freedmen, when he cannot otherwise employ them. He disliked to put the control of these persona into the hands of any officers of the Goverment ; believing that " the less restraint we put upon these freedmen, the sooner we shall make men of them." — "There is not," replied Mr. Eliot, "in this bill, from beginning to the end, one word that looks to control. They are to be aided ; they are to be assisted. The hand of the Government is to be" held out to them ; but they are not to be controlled. They are to be treated — and my friend will find throughout the bill that such are its provisions — like freedmen." Mr. Washburne (Rep.) of Illinois desired an explanation of the action of the Committee of Conference, The House had passed a bill of five sections ; the Senate had substituted a new bill of thirteen sections, and the Conference Committee had brought in a third bill of fourteen sections. This was strange sort of legislation. " The gentleman should have remembered," responded Mr. Eliot, " that this is by no means a course of unusual procedure." Mr. Washburne wished to know if " the principle of the original House bill had not been widely varied, and de parted from." — " The principle," replied Mr. Eliot, " of the House bill had not been departed from." Mr. Schenck (Rep.) of Ohio had reported from the Military Committee a bill " to establish in the War Department Page 408 a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees ; " and he thought that " persons set afloat by the accidents and necessities of the war, and needing assistance and relief from the Government, should fall within the care and attention of that department which is engaged in the conduct of the war."

Mr. Kelley (Rep.) of Pennsylvania said, that " it is not often given to a legislature to perform an act such as we are now to pass upon. We have four million people in poverty, because our laws have denied them the right to acquire property ; in ignorance, because our laws have made it a felony to instruct them ; without organized habits, because war has broken the shackles which bound them, and has released them from the plantations which were destined to be their world. We are to organize them into society; we are to guide them, as the guardian guides his ward, for a brief period, until they can acquire habits, and become confident and capable of self-control ; we are to watch over them : and, if we do, we have, from their conduct in the field and in the school, evidence that they will more than repay our labor. If we do not, we will doom them to vagrancy and pauperism, and throw upon another Congress, and perhaps upon another generation, the duty or the effort to reclaim those whose hopes we will have blasted, whose usefulness we will have destroyed." Mr. Chanler (Dem.) of New York spoke briefly in opposition to the report, and for the bill reported by Mr. Schenck. Mr. Eliot demanded the previous question. On motion of Mr. Holman of Indiana, the yeas and nays were ordered on the acceptance of the report, — yeas 64, nays 62; so the bill was passed by the House of Representatives.

Page 409 In the Senate, on the 10th, Mr. Sumner reported the measure from the Conference Committee ; and it was laid on the table to give senators an opportunity to ex amine it. On the llth, on motion of Mr. Sumner, the report was taken up by a vote of 25 to 11, and specially assigned Monday, the 13th, at one o'clock. On that day, Mr. Sumner explained the action of the Committee of Conference, and the provisions of the report. The Senate, on the 14th, resumed the consideration of the report ; and Mr. Davis spoke in opposition to its acceptance. On the 21st, the Senate, on motion of Mr. Sumner, resumed its consideration ; and Mr. Hendricks (Dem.) of Indiana opposed that mode of legislation, and the general policy of the measure. Mr. Grimes (Rep.) of Iowa was opposed to an Independent Department. He would place the Bureau in the War Department. He preferred the bill introduced into the House by Mr. Schenck, creating a Bureau in the War Department for the white as well as the black. "I have lived," said Mr. Pomeroy (Rep.) of Kansas, " upon the border, and I have seen thousands of colored and white refugees coming into my State ; and I say here distinctly, that the colored people are able to take care of themselves, and find their places and adapt themselves to their new condition easier and quicker than the poor white refugee who are driven out of the border States. Any race of men that can adapt themselves to slavery can very soon adapt themselves to freedom." — "I am," said Mr. Sprague (Rep.) of Rhode Island, " opposed to this bill, if I can procure for the colored man the elective franchise. When a man can vote, he needs no special legislation in his behalf." Mr. Grimes Page 410 moved to postpone the report to the next day. Mr. Sumner hoped there would be no postponement. " A motion," he said, "to postpone at the present time is a motion to kill ; and such is unquestionably the object of the senator from Iowa. ... I am pained by this opposition. It is out of season. I am pained by it especially from the senator from Iowa. I do not judge him. But he will pardon me if I say, that, from the beginning, he has shown a strange insensibility to this cause. He is for liberty ; but he will not help us assure it to those who have for generations been despoiled of it. Sir, I am in earnest. Seriously, religiously, I accept emancipation as proclaimed by the President, and now, by the votes of both Houses of Congress, placed under the sanction of constitutional law." — " No man has a right to suppose," replied Mr. Grimes, " that, because I am opposed to the adoption of this conference report, I am opposed to any freedman's bill. I want an opportunity to change it. I think, that. If this question is postponed until to-morrow, we can get that opportunity. I want to refer it to another committee of conference. . . . Does the senator claim, that the work of his committee on conference is immaculate ? Can it not be rectified ? Is it not possible to be bettered? Is all judgment and wisdom in this world, as well as all antislavery sentiment, and the spirit of freedom, confined to this Committee of Conference ? I am just as much in earnest as the senator from Massachusetts is ; I am just as much in favor of protecting these freedmen as he is ; I will go just as far, and spend just as much of my own money, or of the money of my constituents, as he will spend : but I want to be satisfied, that, when I am doing Page 411 it, it is going to reach the objects of my bounty ; and I want to be satisfied that all their rights will be protected under the law which I am going to adopt, and vote for." Mr. Grimes’s motion to postpone was not agreed to, — yeas 13, nays 16. "In my judgment," said Mr. Henderson (Rep.) of Missouri, "the bill, if adopted, will, instead of benefiting the freedmen of the South, be attended with consequences sufficient in time to re- enslave them. . . . The better policy Is to regard them as free ; have it understood that we ourselves regard them as freemen, and that they are to be treated as such upon every occasion ; and that they need no guardians, no superintendents, no overseers."

On the 22d, the debate was resumed by Mr. Hale (Rep.) of New Hampshire, in opposition to the report. He strongly opposed the ninth action, authorizing the commissioner to let the freedmen out on hire ; and the twelfth section, providing that the officers in the Department shall be deemed so far in the military service as to be liable to Court Martial. "I am opposed," said Mr. Lane (Rep.) of Indiana, "to the whole theory of a Freedmen's Bureau. I would make them free under the law ; I would protect them in the courts of justice ; if necessary, I would give them the right of suffrage, and let loyal slaves vote their rebel masters down, and reconstruct the seceded States ; but I wish to have no system of guardianship and pupilage and overseership over these negroes."

Mr. Conness (Rep.) of California was "very much inclined to believe, that both white and black persons, in this country, who are in good health and of certain ages, are abundantly able to take care of themselves." Page 412 He should vote for the report, because in " the sudden change from slavery to freedom there must be a great many black people who require assistance." — "I trust," said Mr. Davis, " that this measure, which I think is so wrong in its policy, that will be so injurious in its effects to the freedmen, and that contains a vital stab at one of the most important principles of the Constitution, will now fail, and fail for ever." Mr. Morrill (Rep.) of Maine would vote for the bill ; though in doing so, he was not sure that the existing laws would be improved. Mr. Sumner made an earnest appeal for the consummation of the measure. " If you reject the pending measure," he said, " you voluntarily refuse to carry forward that great act of emancipation which you have already sanctioned. I say, therefore, for the sake of emancipation, let the report of this committee be adopted ; and I appeal to you, senators, do not be afraid to be just." " I do not know," responded Mr. Johnson of Maryland, " that I am afraid to be just. ... I beg leave to state to the honorable senator from Massachusetts, that there is no present need for that particular enactment. I find on my desk a bill, passed almost unanimously by the House ; and if it shall become a law, and the President shall perform his duty, under it there can be no suffering among the black or the white refugees." Mr. Harlan (Rep.) of Iowa would insist on the Senate amendment to the House bill, and ask for another Committee of Conference. The vote was then taken on the acceptance of the report, — yeas 14, nays 24 ; so the report was non-concurred in. Mr. Wilson (Rep.) of Massachusetts then moved that the Senate further insist on its amendment disagreed to by the Page 413 House of Representatives, and ask for another Committee of Conference. The motion was agreed to ; and Mr. Wilson (Rep.) of Massachusetts, Mr. Harlan (Rep.) of Iowa, and Mr. Willey (Rep.) of West Virginia were appointed conferees on the part of the Senate. The House promptly concurred in a Committee of Conference; and Mr. Schenck (Rep.) of Ohio, Mr. Boutwell (Rep.) of Massachusetts, and Mr. Rollins (Dem.) of Missouri were appointed conferees.

On the 28th, Mr. Wilson from the Conference Committee reported to the Senate a bill " to establish a Bureau for the relief of Freedmen and Refugees," which was ordered to be printed. This bill provides, " that there is hereby established in the War Department, to continue during the present war of the Rebellion, and for one year thereafter, a Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and abandoned Lands, to which shall be committed, as hereinafter provided, the supervision and management of all abandoned lands, and the control of all subjects relating to refugees and freedmen from rebel States, or from any district of country within the territory embraced in the operations of the army ; that the Secretary of War may direct such issues of provisions, clothing, and fuel, as he may deem needful for the im mediate and temporary shelter and supply of destitute and suffering refugees and freedmen, and their wives and children, under such rules and regulations as he may direct ; that the Commissioner, under the direction of the President, shall have authority to set apart for the use of loyal refugees and freedmen such tracts of land within the insurrectionary States as shall have been abandoned, or to which the United States shall have Page 414 acquired title by confiscation, or sale, or otherwise; that to every male citizen, whether refugee or freed man, as aforesaid, there shall be assigned not more than forty acres of such land, and the person to whom it is so assigned shall be protected in the use and enjoyment of the land for the term of three years, at an annual rent not exceeding six per cent upon the value of said land as it was appraised by the State authorities in 1860, for the purpose of taxation ; and in case no such appraisal can be found, then the rental shall be based upon the estimated value of the land in said year, to be ascertained in such manner as the Commissioner may, by regulation, prescribe ; and that at the end of said term or at any time during said term, the occupants of any parcels so assigned may purchase the land, and receive such title thereto as the United States can con vey, upon paying therefor the value of the land, as ascertained and fixed for the purpose of determining the annual rent."

On the 2d of March, the Senate, on motion of Mr. Wilson, took up the report of the Conference Committee. Mr. Powell (Dem.) of Kentucky did not think " a more offensive bill had been presented to this Congress. It would create a multitude of office-holders, ' who would be sent upon those States as the locusts were sent upon Egypt." He moved that the report be laid upon the table : but the motion was lost. Mr. Howard (Rep.) of Michigan declared, that he "could not vote for this report of the Committee of Conference. It places the whole subject in the control and under the superintendence of the Secretary of War. It becomes a sort of appendage to the War Department." "The Page 415 men," said Mr. Powell, "who are to go down there, and become overseers and negro-drivers, will be your broken-down politicians and your dilapidated preachers ; that description of men who are too lazy to work, and just a little too honest to steal. That is the kind of crew that you propose to fasten on these poor negroes. I am astonished that the honorable senator from Massachusetts, who has preached so much for negro equality and negro intelligence, now that some of these negroes are turned loose by the policy of his party, thinks so poorly of them as to put masters over them to manage them. I am opposed to placing overseers over freedmen." Mr. Cowan moved an adjournment; lost, — yeas 12, nays 16. Mr. Conness moved to postpone until the next day; lost, — yeas 12, nays 16. Mr. Powell desired further time to examine the report. Mr. Wilson was very anxious to have a vote ; but if the senator from Kentucky and his friends would let the vote be taken the next day, he would allow the report to go over. Mr. Powell would " make no factious opposition, and would advise none." The report went over to the 3d ; was called up on motion of Mr. Wilson ; and, without further debate, accepted without a division.

In the House, Mr. Schenck from the Conference Committee reported the bill ; and, upon its adoption, demanded the previous question. Mr. Holman raised the point of order, that the report did not come within the scope of the Committee of Conference. The Speaker ruled, that the Committee had a right to report any bill that was germane to the bills referred to them. Mr. Holman took an appeal from the ruling of the chair. Mr. Brooks demanded the yeas and nays on the Page 416 appeal, — yeas 89, nays 35 : so the decision of the chair was sustained. The previous question was then ordered. Mr. Cox moved to lay the report on the table. Mr. LeBlond (Dem.) of Ohio demanded the yeas and nays on the motion, — yeas 52, nays 77 : so the House refused to lay the bill on the table. The report was then agreed to without a division ; and the bill establishing the Bureau of Freedmen and Refugees was ap proved by the President on the same day.

Source: Wilson, Henry. History of the Antislavery Measures of the Thirty-Seventh and Thirty-Eighth United States Congresses, 1861-1865, Boston: Walker, Fuller, & Co., 1865.