American Freedmen's Inquiry Commission facts for kids

The American Freedmen's Inquiry Commission was a special group created in March 1863 by U.S. Secretary of War Edwin McMasters Stanton. Its main job was to investigate the lives and situations of enslaved people and those who had recently gained their freedom because of the Emancipation Proclamation. Stanton chose Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, James McKaye, and Robert Dale Owen to be the commissioners. They worked on this important task from 1863 until they submitted their final report in May 1864.

Investigating Freedom

The members of the Commission and their staff traveled to the American South. There, they interviewed many formerly enslaved people and also Union Army leaders. They wanted to understand the "condition and capacity" of the freed people. This meant they wanted to know how these individuals were living and what they were able to do.

One of the commissioners, Samuel Gridley Howe, and his secretary also traveled to Canada West. Thousands of formerly enslaved people had moved there to find freedom. Howe visited their communities, spoke with freed people and government officials. He observed how well they were doing in a free country where they could vote and where their rights were protected by the government.

Helping Freed People

Through their report, the Commission suggested that the government should help freed people as they started their new lives. Their report was sent to Congress, and its findings were discussed. The ideas from the Commission helped Congress pass a law to create the Freedmen's Bureau. This new organization was set up to help manage the big change for freed people as they moved into freedom.

The Commission used government money to start schools and churches in the South. The goal was to help formerly enslaved people find jobs and get an education. The Commission's work was successful, and the law that created the Freedmen's Bureau was extended by Congress in January 1866.

The Commission's report also shared the difficult situations many freed people faced in the South. It even mentioned that some Union Army soldiers had taken things from African-American "contrabands" (a term for formerly enslaved people who came into Union lines) in Virginia. For example, the report noted that some soldiers took money or other items from these people, making their already tough lives even harder.

The report fully described the poverty and hard conditions that most formerly enslaved people faced in the South. Some members of Congress found it hard to believe that such difficult situations existed in the United States.

Robert Dale Owen later published the full final report as a book. It was called The Wrong of Slavery, the Right of Emancipation, and the Future of the African Race in the United States.