Year: 1866

VETO OF THE FREEDMENs BUREAU BILL


To the Senate of the United States:


have examined with care the bill which ori-
ginated in the Senate, and has been passed by
the two Houses of Congress, to. amend an act
entitled "An act to establish a Bureau for the
relief of Freedmen and Refugees" and for 9th
to the conclusion that it would not be consistent
with the public welfare to give my approval to
the measure, return the bill to the Senate with
my objections to its becoming law.


[ might call to mind in advance of these OBJ
| iections, that there is no immediate necessity
for the proposed measure. The act to establish
| Bureau for the relief of freedmen and refu-
gees, which was approved IN the month OF
| March last, has not yet expired. 1t was thought
stringent and extensive enough for the purpose
in view in time of war. Before it ceases to have
effect further experience may assist to. guide us
to wise conclusion as to the policy to be adopt
ed in time of peace.


I share with Congress the strongest desire to
secure to the freedmen the full enjoyment Of
their freedom and their property, and their en-
tire independence and equality in making con-
tracts for their labor; but the bill before me
contains provisions which, in my opinion, are
not warranted by the Constitution, and are not
well suited to accomplish the end in view.
| The bill proposes to establish by authority of
Congress- military jurisdiction over all parts of
the United States containing refugees and freed
men. 1t would, by its very nature, apply with
most force to those parts of the United States
in which the freedmen most abound and it eX-
pressly extends the existing temporary jurlsdlc-
ton of the Freedmens Bureau, with greatly
enlarged powers, over those States, sin which
the ordinary course of judicial proceedings has
been interrupted by the rebellion" The source
from which this military jurisdiction is to en-
anate is none other than the President of the
| United States acting through the War Depart
ment and the Commissioner Of the Freedmen's
Bureau. The agents to carry out this military
jurisdiction are to be selected either from the
army or from civil life; the country is to be di-
vided into districts and sub-districts, and the
number of salaried agents to be employed may
be equal to the number of counties or parishes
in all the United States where freedmen and
refugees are to be found.


| The subjects over which this military jurisdic-
ton is to extend in every part Of the United
agents and officers of this Bureau in the eXer-
else of the duties imposed" upon them by the
BILL In eleven States it is further to extend
over all gases affecting freedmen and refugees
Disseminated against by local law, custom or
prejudice. - In those eleven States the bill sub
jects any white person who may be charged
with depriving freedman of amy civil rights
or immunities belonging to white persons, to
imprisonment or fine, or both-without, how
ever, defining the ''civil rights and immunities'
which are thus to be secured to the freedman
by military law. This military jurisdiction also
extends to all questions that may arise respect
ing contracts. The agent who is thus to exer-
else the Office Of military Judge may be stran-
ger, entirely ignorant of the laws Of the place,
and exposed to the errors of Judgment to which
all men are liable. The exercise of power, over
which there is no legal supervision, by so vast
number of agents as is contemplated by the bill,
must by the very nature OF man, be attended
| by acts of caprice, injustice and passion.


The trials having their origin under this bill
are to take place without the intervention of
jury, and without any fixed rules Of law or evi-
dence The rules on which offences are to be
''heard and determined by the numerous a.
gents are such rules and regulations as the
President, through the War Department. shall
prescribe. No previous presentment is requir-
ed, nor any Indictment charging the commission
of a crime against the laws; but the trial must
proceed on charges and specifications. The
punishment will be-not what the law declares,
but such as a Court Martial may think proper
and from these arbitrary tribunals there lies no
appeal, no writ of error to any of the courts in
which the Constitution of the United States
vests exclusively the judicial power Of the coun-
try try, :, =,
| While the territory and the classes OF actions
and offences that are made subject to this mea-
sure are so extensive, the bill itself, should it
become law, will have no limitation in point of
time, but will form part of the permanent le-
gislation of the country. l cannot reconcile a
system of military jurisdiction of this kind with
the words of the Constitution, which declare
that ''no person shall be held to answer for
capital or otherwise infamous crime unless on
presentment or Indictment of a grand jury, ex-
cept in cases arising in the land and naval for
ces or in the militia when in actual service in
time of war or public danger and that ''in
all criminal prosecutions the accused shall en-
joy the right to a speedy and public trial. by an
impartial jury of the State or district wherein
the crime shall have been committed" The
safeguards which the experience and wisdom of
ages taught our fathers to establish as securities
for the protection of the innocent, the punish
ment of the guilty, and the equal administra-
ton of justice, are to be set aside, and, for the
sake of more vigorous interposition in behalf
of Justice we are to take the risk of the many
acts of injustice that would necessarily follow
from an almost countless number of agents, es-
tablished in every parish or county In nearly
third of the States of the Union, over whose de-
cisions there>is to be no supervision or control
by the Federal courts. The power that would
be thus placed in the hands of the President is
such as In time of peace certainly ought never
to be entrusted to any one man.


Ifit be asked whether the creation of such
tribunal within State is warranted as mea-
sure of war, the question Immediately presents
itself whether we are still engaged in war. Let
US not unnecessarily disturb the commerce and
credit and industry of the country by declaring
to the American people and to the world that
the United States are still in condition of civil
war. At present there is no part Of our coun-
try in which the authority Of the United States
is disputed. Offences that may be committed
by individuals should not work forfeiture of
the rights of whole communities. The country
has returned, or is returning, to state Of peace
and industry, and the rebellion is, in fact, at an
end The measure, therefore, seems to be as
inconsistent with the actual condition of the
country as it is at variance with the Constitution
of the United States


if, passing from general considerations. we