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Congressional Passage // Freedmen's Bureau Act // Race Riots
Early State Ratification // Congressional Elections // Southern Rejection
Congressional Reconstruction

As Congress was debating and approving the Fourteenth Amendment, it was also considering a new Freedmen’s Bureau Bill.  The original had been vetoed by President Johnson on February 19, 1866, and failed the next day to receive a two-thirds majority in the Senate, which was necessary to override the veto.  On May 29, the House passed, by a 96-32 margin, a new Freedmen’s Bureau Bill, which was essentially the same as the original but had to go through the legislative process again because of the veto.  On June 26, the Senate passed an amended version, which it returned to the House.  Two days later, unable to pass the Senate’s bill, House leaders called for a joint conference committee to reconcile the two versions.  On July 3, both chambers passed the committee’s compromise measure.   

On July 16, 1866, the House and Senate received the presidential veto message, which was overridden the same day.  As a result, the life and authority of the Freedmen’s Bureau was extended, and animosity between Johnson and Congress over Reconstruction intensified.  In the July 28 issue of Harper’s Weekly (published July 18), editor George William Curtis responded to a charge by the New York Evening Post that Congress was “fastening a quarrel” upon the president.  Curtis explained, to the contrary, that (Republican) congressional leaders had initially assumed that they and the president were in broad agreement and would cooperate concerning Reconstruction.  From the point of view of Curtis and other Republicans, it was President Johnson who had acted against Congress with his vetoes and statements.


Harper's Weekly References

1)  July 14, 1866, p. 435, c. 4
“Domestic Intelligence” column

2)  July 21, 1866, p. 451, c. 3
“Domestic Intelligence” column

3)  July 28, 1866, p. 467, c. 3
“Domestic Intelligence” column

4)  July 28, 1866, p. 466, c. 2-3
editorial, “‘Fastening a Quarrel’ upon the President”


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Congressional Passage // Freedmen's Bureau Act // Race Riots
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Congressional Reconstruction
 
 

     
 

 
     
 

 
     
 

 

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