estowed full citizenship upon African Americans. It defined all people born in the United States, excluding Indian peoples, as national citizens, and it enumerated various rights. African Americans were supposed to acquire "full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property as is enjoyed by white citizens." Congress also voted to enlarge the scope of the Freedman's Bureau empowering it to build schools, pay teachers, and establish courts to prosecute those charged with depriving African American's of their civil rights. President Andrew Johnson, and Democrat and former slaveholder, vetoed both bills. He also directed General Oliver O. Howard of the Freedman's Bureau to evict tens of thousands of people settled on confiscated and abandoned land in the Southeast. These evictions created a deep sense of betrayal among African Americans. Congress not only overrode Johnson's vetoes, they also passed the 14th amendment so that the Civil Rights Act could not be declared unconstitutional. The 14th amendment defined national citizenship to include former slaves and prohibited the states from violating the privileges of citizens without due process of law. It also empowered Congress to reduce the representation of any state that denied the suffrage to males over the age of 21 years. In 1869 Congress also passed the 15th Amendment, providing that "the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be abridged... on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
             Many African Americans desired the right to vote. Leaders such as Frederick Douglass felt that African Americans deserved suffrage due to the fact that if African Americans were good enough to fight alongside the whites in the Civil War, then they should receive the rewards and benefits that the whites received, in
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