it passed Congress on the 3rd of March, 1865,

国会于1865年3月3日通过了这一法案
just a day before Lincoln's Second Inaugural.

也就是林肯第二个就职典礼的前一天
It was social reform by military force.

它是由军队力量引起的社会改革
Americans had never done this before--

在此之前美国人从未这样做过
a national, federal, social welfare agency,

一个国家联邦社会福利机构
in a land that had lived and breathed laissez-faire government;

在这片土地上政府一直采取不干涉主义
in a land that had lived and breathed this idea

这片土地上一直弥漫着这种思想:
that governments don't provide food for people,

政府不为人民提供温饱
people provide food for people,

在温饱医疗和教育等方面
healthcare, schools.

人们应该互相扶持
Well the war, of course, had forced a new kind of history.

当然战争创造了新的历史
The basic purposes of the Freedmen's Bureau, when it was set up,

难民局在建立之初的基本原则是