<P> The Freedmen's Bureau bills provided legislative authorization for the Freedmen's Bureau (formally known as the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands), which was set up by President Abraham Lincoln in 1865 as part of the United States Army . Following the original bill in 1865, subsequent bills sought to extend its authority and lifespan, until the Bureau was disbanded during the first term of President Ulysses S. Grant . </P> <P> The Freedmen's Bureau was created in 1865 during the Lincoln administration, by an act of Congress called the Freedman's Bureau Bill . It was passed on March 3, 1865, in order to aid former slaves through food and housing, oversight, education, health care, and employment contracts with private landowners . </P> <P> A followup Freedmen's Bureau Bill was vetoed by President Andrew Johnson on February 19, 1866, and Congress failed to override that veto on the following day . </P>

What were the purposes of the freedmen's bureau and civil rights bills