gained land would either be sold or rented out in forty acre plots. “Such plots were to be leased for three year periods for annual rentals not to exceed six percent of the appraised value in 1860...”(Abbot, 54), which meant that freedmen would be able to afford this land and not be forced into a labor contract. General Rufus Saxton, the head of this plan, had another idea too. He wanted to put one teacher on every plantation, which was about six or seven plots of land. “His goal was not realized fully, but by 1864 thirty schools were in operation”(Abbot, 6). “Along with the great desire of freedpeople to homestead came opposition to black homesteading”(Cimbala, 79).Former Confederates wanted their land back and would fight with the Freedmen’s Bureau for it. They would not have to because “The plans of Howard [a member of the Freedmen’s Bureau] and the hopes of Saxton were soon frustrated by President Andrew Johnson” (Abbot, 55). The reconstruction plan of President Andrew Johnson stated that any Confederate who was granted a pardon was to have all property, except slaves, returned. “In some instances freedmen armed themselves and threatened violence against whites whom they suspected of coming to take the lands from them...” (Abbot, 60), but it was useless and almost all of the land was returned. About one out of every fifty freedmen actually became a landowner. The redistribution never took place.“The majority of historians believe that the Freedmen’s Bureau made a very little impact...”(Brownfield) on getting freedmen land. They feel that all they did was provide a political show for those who were in favor of equal rights for slaves. In fact, very few African Amreicans actually ended up fulfilling their dreams, but the notion of providing land, education, and help to freedmen did give them hope. Just as slaves relied on this hop...
