Finding source material to discover how ideas about property shaped the interactions between Freedmen's Bureau agents and President Andrew Johnson.

2.  West Point graduate
 Medal of Honor recipient
 Assistant Commissioner of Freedmen’s
Bureau
 Ardent supporter of land distribution
to freedmen
 Fired by President Andrew Johnson
January 16, 1866
Brig. Gen. Rufus Saxton

3. Freedmen’s Bureau
vs.
President Andrew Johnson:
Framing the Conflict over Land Distribution
By Kristopher Hiser

4. The Journey
• My Outside Perspective
• The Trouble with Sources
• The Path Narrows:
Freedmen’s Bureau and
President Johnson

5. The Abundant Source Material
• Freedmen’s Bureau
Documents
• Congressional Globe
• Thousands of Letters
• Body of Literature

6. Upon Whom to Focus?
• Planters attempting to recover their land
• Freedmen’s Bureau officials
• President Johnson
• Congress
• Freedmen

7. Johnson vs. Freedmen’s Bureau
• Numerous sources
• Numerous points of view
• President Johnson was most vital opponent
• Freedmen’s Bureau was the most ardent proponent

8. Brig. Gen.
Rufus Saxton
“In my opinion this [field] order
[15] of General Sherman is as
binding as statute.”