President Johnson, who is in an increasingly…

President Johnson, who is in an increasingly bitter conflict with Congress, vetoes a bill for an increase of power of the Freedman’s Bureau, supported by Radical Republicans, on February 19, 1866.

The main role of the Bureau at the end of the war had been the provision of emergency food, housing, and medical aid to refugees, though it had also helped reunite families.

It has focused its subsequent work on helping the freedmen adjust to their conditions of freedom.

Its main job is setting up work opportunities and supervising labor contracts.

It had soon become, in effect, a military court that handles legal issues.

By 1866, it is attacked by Southern whites for organizing blacks against their former masters.

Although some of their subordinate agents are unscrupulous or incompetent, the majority of local Bureau agents are 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.