<P> The Freedmen 's Bureau Bill , which established the Freedmen 's Bureau on March 3 , 1865 , was initiated by President Abraham Lincoln and was intended to last for one year after the end of the Civil War . The Freedmen 's Bureau was an important agency of early Reconstruction , assisting freedmen in the South . The Bureau was made a part of the United States Department of War , as it was the only agency with an existing organization that could be assigned to the South . Headed by Union Army General Oliver O. Howard , the Bureau started operations in 1865 . Throughout the first year , its representatives learned that these tasks would be very difficult , as Southern legislatures passed laws for Black Codes that restricted movement , conditions of labor , and other civil rights of African Americans , nearly duplicating conditions of slavery . The Freedmen 's Bureau controlled limited arable land . </P>
<P> The Freedmen 's Bureau Bill , which established the Freedmen 's Bureau on March 3 , 1865 , was initiated by President Abraham Lincoln and was intended to last for one year after the end of the Civil War . The Freedmen 's Bureau was an important agency of early Reconstruction , assisting freedmen in the South . The Bureau was made a part of the United States Department of War , as it was the only agency with an existing organization that could be assigned to the South . Headed by Union Army General Oliver O. Howard , the Bureau started operations in 1865 . Throughout the first year , its representatives learned that these tasks would be very difficult , as Southern legislatures passed laws for Black Codes that restricted movement , conditions of labor , and other civil rights of African Americans , nearly duplicating conditions of slavery . The Freedmen 's Bureau controlled limited arable land . </P>
he led the work of the freedman 's bureau
he led the work of the freedman 's bureau
President Abraham Lincoln
President Abraham Lincoln