Was there a nationwide policy of '40 acres and a mule' for freedpeople, and what happened to land redistribution efforts?

• A. There was no nationwide program; a limited field order in a specific region briefly granted land, but most land remained with white landowners.
• B. The government granted land to all freedpeople.
• C. The program was fully implemented nationwide.
• D. It only applied to urban housing.

Answer: (A)

The idea being tested is that there was no nationwide land-reform program after the Civil War. In reality, a short-lived, regionally limited effort did occur. General Sherman issued Field Order No. 15 in 1865, promising up to 40 acres of land per family and, in some cases, a mule for freedpeople in a specific coastal region (Sea Islands and parts of Georgia and South Carolina). This was not extended across the nation, and once Union forces left and President Andrew Johnson began restoring lands to former Confederates, those parcels were often taken back or left without lasting, widespread redistribution. Although the Freedmen’s Bureau and a few acts attempted some land distribution in limited areas, the overall push for nationwide land reform failed, and most land remained in white hands, with many freedpeople becoming sharecroppers or tenant farmers rather than landowners.