Senator Lyman Trumbull's bill to extend the life and authority of the Freedmen's Bureau had passed through Congress two weeks before. The Bureau had been founded in March 1865 to aid freed slaves in making the transition to freedom. President Johnson had been expected to sign the bill but instead sent a lengthy veto message on February 19, 1866, calling the bill unconstitutional. The Senate narrowly failed, 30-18, to over-ride the veto, thanks to the votes of several moderate Republicans. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
William A. Barnes, History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1868), 164.
Record Data
Date Certainty
Exact
Type
Lawmaking/Litigating
