<span>It started out as a great idea:
The war had liberated nearly four million slaves and destroyed the region's cities, towns, and plantation-based economy.
It left former slaves and many whites dislocated from their homes, facing starvation, and owning only the clothes they wore.
The challenge of establishing a new social order, founded on freedom and racial equality, was enormous.
The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (usually referred
to as the Freedmen's Bureau) was a U.S. federal government agency that
aided distressed refugees of the American Civil War.
The Freedman's Bureau Bill, which created the Freedman's Bureau, was
initiated by President Abraham Lincoln and intended to last for one year
after the end of the Civil War.
Passed on March 3, 1865, by Congress to aid former slaves through
education, health care, and employment, it became a key agency during
Reconstruction, assisting freedmen (freed ex-slaves) in the South.
The Bureau was part of the United States Department of War.
Headed by Union Army General Oliver O. Howard, the Bureau was operational from June 1865 to December 1868.
It was later disbanded under Lincoln's successor, President Andrew Johnson.
The Freedman's Bureau spent $17,000 to help establish homes and
distribute food, established 4,000 schools and 100 hospitals for former
slaves.
This Bureau also helped freedmen find new jobs.
At the end of the war, the Bureau's main role was providing emergency
food, housing, and medical aid to refugees, though it also helped
reunite families.
Later, it focused its work on helping the freedmen adjust to their conditions of freedom.
Its main job was setting up work opportunities and supervising labor contracts.
On the negative side, it soon became, in effect, a military court that handled legal issues.
By 1866, it was attacked by former Confederate leaders for organizing blacks against their former masters.
Although some of their subordinate agents were unscrupulous or
incompetent, the majority of local Bureau agents were hindered in
carrying out their duties by the opposition of former Confederates, the
lack of a military presence to enforce their authority, and an excessive
amount of paperwork.
You can read more about it here: http://www.archives.gov/research/african...
Instituted in the hope of avoiding war, appeasement was the name given to Britain's policy in the 1930s of allowing Hitler to expand German territory unchecked
The Battle of Saratoga was a turning point in the American Revolution. It gave the Patriots a major morale boost and persuaded the French, Spanish and Dutch to join their cause against a mutual rival. France’s naval support eventually helped the Continental Army win the final Battle of Yorktown, leading to the end of the American Revolution.
