text: He declared that such an amendment would "clinch the whole matter" and by December 1863 an amendment was brought to Congress.The Senate passed it on April 8, 1864, but the first vote in the House of Representatives fell short of the required two-thirds majority.Passage became part of Lincoln's reelection platform, and after his successful reelection, the second attempt in the House passed on January 31, 1865.With ratification, it became the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution on December 6, 1865.Lincoln believed the federal government had limited responsibility to the millions of freedmen.He signed Senator Charles Sumner's Freedmen's Bureau bill that set up a temporary federal agency designed to meet the immediate needs of former slaves.The law opened land for a lease of three years with the ability to purchase title for the freedmen.Lincoln announced a Reconstruction plan that involved short-term military control, pending readmission under the control of southern Unionists.Historians agree that it is impossible to predict how Reconstruction would have proceeded had Lincoln lived.Biographers James G.Randall and Richard Current, according to David Lincove, argue that: Eric Foner argues that: Native Americans Lincoln's experience with Native Americans started early with their killing of his grandfather in front of the family.Later he served as a captain in the state militia during the Black Hawk War but saw no combat.During his presidency, his policy toward Indians was based on politics.He used appointments to the Indian Bureau as a reward to supporters from Minnesota and Wisconsin.While in office his administration faced difficulties guarding Western settlers, railroads, and telegraphs, from Indian attacks.On August 17, 1862, the Sioux or Dakota uprising broke out in Minnesota.Hundreds of settlers were killed, 30,000 were displaced from their homes, and Washington was deeply alarmed.