It was among the very last Acts approved by Mr.Lincoln, and was primarily designed as a protection to the freedmen of the South and to the class of white men known as "refugees,"-- driven from their homes by the rebels on account of their loyalty to the Union.
Protection was needed by both classes during the disorganization necessarily incident to so great and sudden a change in their condition and in their relations to society.

The total destruction of the long-established labor system of the South--based as it had been on chattel-slavery--led inevitably to great confusion, indeed almost to social anarchy.

The result was that many of the freedmen, removed from the protection of their old masters, were exposed to destitution and to many forms of suffering.

But for the interposition of the National Government there was serious danger that thousands of them might be reduced to starvation.

Having taken the responsibility of freeing them, first by Proclamation of the President and then by Amendment of the Constitution, it would have been a lasting reproach to the Government not to extend protection and assistance to such of them as were thrown into dire extremity of want.