Presentation byKristopher Hiser

Forty Acres to Freedom and Back Again:

Rufus Saxton’s Failed Attempt to Secure Property for Freedmen

Labor claims vs. Title claims

The playersThe lawsSaxton’s viewSaxton’s oppositionThe outcome

The Agenda

Title and legal ownershipLabor claimsSpecial case of the freedmenBills of attainder

Property: The Sacred Right

Radical RepublicansBureau agentsNorthernersPresident Andrew Johnson

Who Was Who?

The LegislationTaxation Act

1862Second

Confiscation Act

Abandoned and

Confiscated Property

Acts

Sherman’s Field Order

15

Andrew Johnson’s Amnesty

Proclamation

“Unrequited Toil”

Port Royal ColonySherman’s Reservation

Saxton’s Efforts

Circular #13Circular #15

The Question Settled

Total South Carolina Virginia and North Carolina

Georgia and Mississippi, and Louisiana

Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Florida, Tennesee, and DC

0

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

600,000

700,000

800,000

900,000

854,950

369,700

112,100183,950 189,200

465,900

181,600

60,600 102,400 121,300139,53374,669

11,875 3,69049,299

Land Holdings of the Bureau1865 January 1866 1868

Saxton removed from the BureauCongress refocused efforts on the franchise

Outcome