Reparations · Federal
President Andrew Johnson rescinds Field Orders No. 15, returning land to former enslavers
- Direction
- -2 — major harm to Freedmen
- Force
- 1.00 — enacted, vetoed, or final
- Status
- Decided
- Date
- 1865-10-28
Why this rating
In the fall of 1865 President Andrew Johnson reversed Special Field Orders No. 15 over the objection of Freedmen's Bureau chief O.O. Howard, requiring freed families to return the land they had been granted to its former enslavers. Rated -2: the single largest material benefit ever transferred to freedmen was affirmatively revoked — a direct, large-scale harm to the lineage. (Date approximate — fall 1865.)
Summary
In the fall of 1865 President Andrew Johnson reversed Special Field Orders No. 15 over the objection of Freedmen's Bureau chief O.O. Howard, requiring freed families to return the land they had been granted to its former enslavers. Rated -2: the single largest material benefit ever transferred to freedmen was affirmatively revoked — a direct, large-scale harm to the lineage. (Date approximate — fall 1865.)
Sources
- History of Emancipation: Special Field Orders No. 15 — Georgia Historical Society — official record · primary · historical
Rated under the published impact rubric. Direction records what a measure would do if fully effective; force records how far it has actually travelled. Neither is inferred — both trace to the sources above. Think something here is wrong? Tell us and we will log the correction.