Thaddeus Stevens

Congressman Thaddeus Stevens offered an amendment to Freedmen’s Bureau bill authorizing the distribution of public land and confiscated land and to freedmen and loyal refugees in forty-acre lots. The measure was defeated in the House by a vote of 126 to 37. A black delegation, led by Frederick Douglas called on President Johnson and urged ballots for former slaves. Meeting ended in disagreement and controversy after Johnson reiterated his opposition to black suffrage.