The Northern politicians and soldiers who effected the emancipation of the American slave population disagreed about the appropriate design of a post-emancipation economy and the part that blacks would play in it. Some, like the Radical Republicans George Washington Julian and Thaddeus Stevens, wanted to confiscate the land of wealthy rebels for free distribution among the freedmen. Others proposed that land abandoned by Southerners during the war be sold to the freedmen on easy terms. Some, like Senator Charles Sumner, wished to retain the Freedmen's Bureau indefinitely as a regulatory agency mediating between the freedmen and their erstwhile masters to insure fair play. Most, however, gave little thought to the matter, supposing that no special action by the federal government was necessary and that the situation would turn out all right if simply left under the unimpeded influence of market forces.