CHAPTER XVII

THE FREEDMEN'S BUREAU AND CIVIL RIGHTS BILLS

Trumbull introduces two bills to protect the freedmen in the states--Provisions of the Freedmen's Bureau Bill--Trumbull contends that the Thirteenth Amendment authorized Congress to abolish the incidents and disabilities of slavery--The Freedmen's Bureau Bill passed by Congress and vetoed by the President--The Senate fails to pass it over the veto--Struggle in the Senate to obtain a two-thirds majority--Senator Stockton (Democrat), of New Jersey, unseated--Trumbull's Civil Rights Bill taken up--It does not deal with the right of suffrage--Debate in the Senate on the constitutional question--Bill passes Senate--Is opposed in the House by Bingham, of Ohio--Is vetoed by the President--Exciting scene in Senate when the bill is passed over the veto--Trumbull takes the lead in the campaign of 1866 and is reëlected to the Senate--The Civil Rights Act in the courts--An echo from the State of Georgia 257