What was accomplished by the Civil Rights

Act? Why did Johnson override both the

Civil Rights Act and the expanded

Freedmen's Bureau?

Congress overrides veto to enact civil rights bill, April 9, 1866. A Republican-dominated Congress enacted a landmark Civil Rights Act on this day in 1866, overriding a veto by President Andrew Johnson. The law's chief thrust was to offer protection to slaves freed in the aftermath of the Civil War.