Frémont Emancipation
Encyclopedia
The Frémont Emancipation was part of a military proclamation issued by Major General
John C. Frémont
(1813 – 1890) on August 30, 1861 in St. Louis, Missouri
during the early months of the American Civil War
. The proclamation placed the state of Missouri under martial law and decreed that all property of those bearing arms in rebellion would be confiscated, including slaves, and that confiscated slaves would subsequently be declared free. It also imposed capital punishment
for those in rebellion against the federal government.
Frémont, a career army officer, frontiersman and politician, was in command of the military Department of the West from July 1861 to October 1861. Although Frémont claimed his proclamation was intended only as a means of deterring secessionists
in Missouri, his policy had national repercussions, potentially setting a highly controversial precedent that the Civil War would be a war of liberation.
For President Abraham Lincoln
the proclamation created a difficult situation, as he tried to balance the agendas of Radical Republicans who favored abolition and slave-holding Unionists in the American border states whose support was essential in keeping the states of Missouri
, Kentucky
and Maryland
in the Union
.
Nationwide reaction to the proclamation was mixed. Abolitionists enthusiastically supported the measure while conservatives demanded Frémont's removal. Seeking to reverse Frémont's actions and maintain political balance, Lincoln eventually ordered Frémont to rescind the edict on September 11, 1861. Lincoln then sent various government officials to Missouri to build a case for Frémont's removal founded on Frémont's alleged incompetence rather than his abolitionist views. On these grounds, Lincoln sent an order on October 22, 1861, removing Frémont from command of the Department of the West. Although Lincoln opposed Frémont's method of emancipation, the episode had a significant impact Lincoln, shaping his opinions on the appropriate steps towards emancipation and eventually leading to Lincoln's own Emancipation Proclamation
.
in 1813, John Charles Frémont would become one of the nation's leading antislavery politicians in the 1850s. Frémont was granted a second lieutenant's commission in the U.S. army's Bureau of Topographical Engineers in 1838, primarily through the support of Secretary of War
Joel Poinsett. As a young army officer, Frémont took part in several exploratory expeditions of the American West
in the 1840s. For his success in mapping a route across the Rocky Mountains
to then Mexican California
via the Oregon Trail
, Frémont earned the nickname, "the Pathfinder" and attained the status of a national hero. During the Mexican-American War (1846 – 1848), Major Frémont took command of the Californian revolt of American settlers against Mexico and was appointed military governor of California in 1847. Frémont's independent actions ran at cross-purposes with the senior U.S. army officer in California during the Mexican War—Stephen Watts Kearny. Frémont was arrested, brought to Washington, D.C. for a court-martial and resigned from the army in 1848. Returning to the Pacific coast, Frémont became one of the first senators from California
when it was granted statehood in 1850. In 1856, Frémont became the first Presidential candidate of the new Republican Party
which established a platform advocating the limitation of slavery to those states in which it already existed. Frémont won 33 percent of the popular vote, but lost to Democratic Party
candidate James Buchanan
.
At the onset of the Civil War in April 1861, Frémont sought to resume his service in the Regular Army and was commissioned major general, becoming the third highest ranking general in the U.S. army (according to date of appointment), just behind Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan
. Frémont was placed in command of the Department of the West
which included all states and territories between the Mississippi River
and the Rockies as well as the state of Illinois
and the western part of Kentucky
. The department was headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Frémont arrived there and assumed command on July 25, 1861. His chief task was to establish control within the state of Missouri.
. However, Missouri was also a state in which slavery was still legal, a factor which generated sympathy for the Confederacy and secession
. The governor of Missouri at the start of the war, Claiborne Jackson, was in favor of secession and attempted to use the Missouri State Militia to resist the build-up of Union forces in his state.
Before Frémont, two generals had previously served as head of the Department of the West during the first four months of the war. Brigadier General
William S. Harney
had taken a diplomatic approach in Missouri, attempting to respect Missouri's neutrality through the Price-Harney Truce
, negotiated with Sterling Price
, commander of the Missouri State Militia. The truce was unacceptable to many Unionists and particularly to President Lincoln, as continued neutrality in Missouri would result in the state's refusal to supply men for the Union army. Harney was removed on May 30 and replaced with the hard-line Radical Republican
Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon
. Earlier, while still a subordinate of Harney's, Lyon had raised tensions in Missouri to a fever-pitch by acting independently and capturing a portion of the Missouri State Militia during the Camp Jackson Affair on May 10, 1861. Although the maneuver eliminated a threat to the St. Louis Arsenal
, it also caused a riot in St. Louis. As commander of the Department of the West, Lyon met with Gov. Jackson and informed him that, "rather than concede to the State of Missouri for one single instant the right to dictate to my government in any matter...I would see you...and every man and woman and child in the State dead and buried." After this, open warfare commenced between pro-Confederate militia and Union forces in Missouri. Gov. Jackson fled St. Louis, and the Missouri State Militia was re-organized to become the Missouri State Guard
—a pro-secession force under the command of Sterling Price and Governor-in-Exile Jackson.
By the time Frémont took command in St. Louis on July 25, 1861, Union forces under Lyon had fought in several engagements against the Missouri State Guard. On August 10, a combined force of Missouri State Guard, Confederate States Army, and Arkansas Militia, consisting of about 11,000 troops, closed in on Lyon's Union force numbering approximately 5,000 near Springfield, Missouri
. During the ensuing Battle of Wilson's Creek
, Lyon was killed and the federal force routed. Pro-secession sentiment surged throughout Missouri following the Battle of Wilson's Creek. Estimates by Union army officials placed the number of armed secessionists in Missouri at roughly 60,000. Alarmed by the increasing turbulence, Frémont declared martial law in the state of Missouri on August 30, 1861.
The most controversial passage of the proclamation, and the one with the greatest political consequences, was the following:
The two extreme measures described within this passage threatened to alienate Unionists in each of the border states. Drawing a line from Cape Girardeau, Missouri
to Leavenworth, Kansas
, Frémont declared capital punishment would be administered to any secessionists bearing arms north of that line. Further, the proclamation freed the slaves of any secessionists who took up arms against the government. Frémont issued his proclamation without consulting any authority in Missouri or Washington.
The proclamation freed very few slaves. First, and most prominently, two slaves belonging to an aide of the former Gov. Jackson, Frank Lewis and Hiram Reed, were given their manumission
papers. This act received significant coverage by the St. Louis press. Frémont then issued papers to 21 other slaves. However, the greatest significance of the proclamation came in the form of political ramifications. The proclamation set a political precedent, over which there was tremendous disagreement, that the Civil War was a war against slavery. This threatened to tip the delicate political balance in border states. Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland all might have been pushed towards secession if such a precedent had been backed by the federal government at the beginning of the war.
Unionists in Missouri were divided in their reaction. Radical Republicans, who favored abolition, were overjoyed. This included much of the St. Louis press. Frémont surrounded himself with men of this faction, and several Radical Republican politicians had come to St. Louis with him as aides and advisors. These included Illinois Congressman Owen Lovejoy
(brother of the antislavery journalist Elijah Lovejoy who had been murdered in 1837 by an anti-abolitionist mob), Ohio
Congressman John A. Gurley
and Indiana
Congressman John P.C. Shanks. All ardent abolitionists, these men encouraged and influenced Frémont's proclamation. More moderate Unionists were troubled by Frémont's proclamation and pro-slavery conservatives were outraged. Most important, among the moderates in Missouri alienated by Frémont's proclamation was the new governor of Missouri, Hamilton Rowan Gamble
, whose authority Frémont had now superseded by declaring martial law. Feeling that Frémont had greatly overstepped his authority, Gamble began to work for Frémont's removal. In neighboring Kentucky, there was widespread outrage. Although the proclamation pertained only to the state of Missouri, Kentuckians feared that a similar edict might be applied by Frémont to their state. Most slaves in Kentucky belonged to Unionists and threatening to free them could have pushed the state into the Confederacy.
Frémont wrote a reply to Lincoln's request on September 8, 1861 and sent it to Washington in the hands of his wife, Jessie Benton Frémont
, who met with the President in the White House on September 10. In the letter, Frémont stated that he knew the situation in Missouri better than the President and that he would not rescind the proclamation unless directly ordered. Angered, Lincoln wrote Frémont the next day, directly ordering him to modify the emancipation clause to conform with existing federal law—that only slaves themselves acting in armed rebellion could be confiscated and freed.
Lincoln could not allow Frémont's insubordination to go unpunished. However, his dilemma again lay in politics. Removal of Frémont over the emancipation issue would infuriate radicals in Congress. Lincoln determined that if Frémont were to be removed, it would have to be for matters unrelated to the proclamation. He therefore sent Postmaster General
Montgomery Blair
and Quartermaster General
Montgomery Meigs
to Missouri to evaluate Frémont's management of his department. On his return, Blair reported that a tremendous state of disorganization existed in Missouri and Frémont "seemed stupified...and is doing absolutely nothing." When Adjutant General
Lorenzo Thomas
made his own inspection and reported to Lincoln that Frémont was, "wholly incompetent," Lincoln decided to leak Thomas's report to the press. Amidst the resulting public outrage against Frémont, Lincoln sent an order on October 22, 1861, removing him from command of the Department of the West.
in Virginia on June 8, 1862. He eventually resigned from frustration at being passed over when Lincoln appointed Maj. Gen. John Pope
to command of the Army of Virginia
, and spent the rest of the war awaiting a new appointment which never came.
For Lincoln, the immediate effects of Frémont's removal resulted in the furor the president had anticipated from northern abolitionists. Massachusetts Governor John Albion Andrew
, a Radical Republican and abolitionist, wrote that Lincoln's actions had a "chilling influence" on the antislavery movement. The outrage was only a short-term effect, however, and soon subsided.
The most significant long-term consequence of the Frémont Emancipation was the effect it had on Lincoln's perceptions of emancipation and, specifically, how it should be accomplished. As historian Allen Guelzo describes, Lincoln became determined, after Frémont's failed proclamation, that emancipation could not be a matter of martial law or some other temporary measure that would later be challenged in courts. To ensure its permanence, Lincoln felt, emancipation would have to be put into effect by the federal government in a manner that was incontrovertibly constitutional. Equally important, the timing of emancipation would need to be orchestrated carefully, so as not to interfere with the war effort. Although in 1861, Lincoln had not yet espoused the idea of immediate emancipation and still hoped to work with state governments to accomplish gradual and perhaps even a compensated emancipation, the Frémont incident solidified Lincoln's belief that emancipation was the President's responsibility and could not be accomplished by scattered decrees from Union generals. This realization was one of several factors that led to Lincoln's own Emancipation Proclamation
in September 1862.
Major general (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, major general is a two-star general-officer rank, with the pay grade of O-8. Major general ranks above brigadier general and below lieutenant general...
John C. Frémont
John C. Frémont
John Charles Frémont , was an American military officer, explorer, and the first candidate of the anti-slavery Republican Party for the office of President of the United States. During the 1840s, that era's penny press accorded Frémont the sobriquet The Pathfinder...
(1813 – 1890) on August 30, 1861 in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
during the early months of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. The proclamation placed the state of Missouri under martial law and decreed that all property of those bearing arms in rebellion would be confiscated, including slaves, and that confiscated slaves would subsequently be declared free. It also imposed capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
for those in rebellion against the federal government.
Frémont, a career army officer, frontiersman and politician, was in command of the military Department of the West from July 1861 to October 1861. Although Frémont claimed his proclamation was intended only as a means of deterring secessionists
Secession in the United States
Secession in the United States can refer to secession of a state from the United States, secession of part of a state from that state to form a new state, or secession of an area from a city or county....
in Missouri, his policy had national repercussions, potentially setting a highly controversial precedent that the Civil War would be a war of liberation.
For President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
the proclamation created a difficult situation, as he tried to balance the agendas of Radical Republicans who favored abolition and slave-holding Unionists in the American border states whose support was essential in keeping the states of Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
and Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
in the Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
.
Nationwide reaction to the proclamation was mixed. Abolitionists enthusiastically supported the measure while conservatives demanded Frémont's removal. Seeking to reverse Frémont's actions and maintain political balance, Lincoln eventually ordered Frémont to rescind the edict on September 11, 1861. Lincoln then sent various government officials to Missouri to build a case for Frémont's removal founded on Frémont's alleged incompetence rather than his abolitionist views. On these grounds, Lincoln sent an order on October 22, 1861, removing Frémont from command of the Department of the West. Although Lincoln opposed Frémont's method of emancipation, the episode had a significant impact Lincoln, shaping his opinions on the appropriate steps towards emancipation and eventually leading to Lincoln's own Emancipation Proclamation
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation is an executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War using his war powers. It proclaimed the freedom of 3.1 million of the nation's 4 million slaves, and immediately freed 50,000 of them, with nearly...
.
Frémont
Born in Savannah, GeorgiaSavannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
in 1813, John Charles Frémont would become one of the nation's leading antislavery politicians in the 1850s. Frémont was granted a second lieutenant's commission in the U.S. army's Bureau of Topographical Engineers in 1838, primarily through the support of Secretary of War
United States Secretary of War
The Secretary of War was a member of the United States President's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War," was appointed to serve the Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation...
Joel Poinsett. As a young army officer, Frémont took part in several exploratory expeditions of the American West
Western United States
.The Western United States, commonly referred to as the American West or simply "the West," traditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. Because the U.S. expanded westward after its founding, the meaning of the West has evolved over time...
in the 1840s. For his success in mapping a route across the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
to then Mexican California
Alta California
Alta California was a province and territory in the Viceroyalty of New Spain and later a territory and department in independent Mexico. The territory was created in 1769 out of the northern part of the former province of Las Californias, and consisted of the modern American states of California,...
via the Oregon Trail
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail is a historic east-west wagon route that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon and locations in between.After 1840 steam-powered riverboats and steamboats traversing up and down the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers sped settlement and development in the flat...
, Frémont earned the nickname, "the Pathfinder" and attained the status of a national hero. During the Mexican-American War (1846 – 1848), Major Frémont took command of the Californian revolt of American settlers against Mexico and was appointed military governor of California in 1847. Frémont's independent actions ran at cross-purposes with the senior U.S. army officer in California during the Mexican War—Stephen Watts Kearny. Frémont was arrested, brought to Washington, D.C. for a court-martial and resigned from the army in 1848. Returning to the Pacific coast, Frémont became one of the first senators from California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
when it was granted statehood in 1850. In 1856, Frémont became the first Presidential candidate of the new Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
which established a platform advocating the limitation of slavery to those states in which it already existed. Frémont won 33 percent of the popular vote, but lost to Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
candidate James Buchanan
James Buchanan
James Buchanan, Jr. was the 15th President of the United States . He is the only president from Pennsylvania, the only president who remained a lifelong bachelor and the last to be born in the 18th century....
.
At the onset of the Civil War in April 1861, Frémont sought to resume his service in the Regular Army and was commissioned major general, becoming the third highest ranking general in the U.S. army (according to date of appointment), just behind Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan
George B. McClellan
George Brinton McClellan was a major general during the American Civil War. He organized the famous Army of the Potomac and served briefly as the general-in-chief of the Union Army. Early in the war, McClellan played an important role in raising a well-trained and organized army for the Union...
. Frémont was placed in command of the Department of the West
Department of the West
The Department of the West, later known as the Western Department, was a major command of the United States Army during the 19th century. It oversaw the military affairs in the country west of the Mississippi River to the borders of California and Oregon.-Organization:The Department was first...
which included all states and territories between the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
and the Rockies as well as the state of Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
and the western part of Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
. The department was headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Frémont arrived there and assumed command on July 25, 1861. His chief task was to establish control within the state of Missouri.
Missouri
At the commencement of the Civil War, Missouri was a deeply divided state. Missouri had chosen to remain in the Union, and initially maintained a policy of neutrality towards both the Union and the ConfederacyConfederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
. However, Missouri was also a state in which slavery was still legal, a factor which generated sympathy for the Confederacy and secession
Secession in the United States
Secession in the United States can refer to secession of a state from the United States, secession of part of a state from that state to form a new state, or secession of an area from a city or county....
. The governor of Missouri at the start of the war, Claiborne Jackson, was in favor of secession and attempted to use the Missouri State Militia to resist the build-up of Union forces in his state.
Brigadier general (United States)
A brigadier general in the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, is a one-star general officer, with the pay grade of O-7. Brigadier general ranks above a colonel and below major general. Brigadier general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the other uniformed...
William S. Harney
William S. Harney
William Selby Harney was a cavalry officer in the U.S. Army during the Mexican-American War and the Indian Wars. He was born in what is today part of Nashville, Tennessee but at the time was known as Haysborough....
had taken a diplomatic approach in Missouri, attempting to respect Missouri's neutrality through the Price-Harney Truce
Price-Harney Truce
The Price-Harney Truce was a document signed on May 21, 1861 between United States Army General William S. Harney and Missouri State Guard commander Sterling Price at the beginning of the American Civil War....
, negotiated with Sterling Price
Sterling Price
Sterling Price was a lawyer, planter, and politician from the U.S. state of Missouri, who served as the 11th Governor of the state from 1853 to 1857. He also served as a United States Army brigadier general during the Mexican-American War, and a Confederate Army major general in the American Civil...
, commander of the Missouri State Militia. The truce was unacceptable to many Unionists and particularly to President Lincoln, as continued neutrality in Missouri would result in the state's refusal to supply men for the Union army. Harney was removed on May 30 and replaced with the hard-line Radical Republican
Radical Republican
The Radical Republicans were a loose faction of American politicians within the Republican Party from about 1854 until the end of Reconstruction in 1877...
Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon
Nathaniel Lyon
Nathaniel Lyon was the first Union general to be killed in the American Civil War and is noted for his actions in the state of Missouri at the beginning of the conflict....
. Earlier, while still a subordinate of Harney's, Lyon had raised tensions in Missouri to a fever-pitch by acting independently and capturing a portion of the Missouri State Militia during the Camp Jackson Affair on May 10, 1861. Although the maneuver eliminated a threat to the St. Louis Arsenal
St. Louis Arsenal
The St. Louis Arsenal is a large complex of military weapons and ammunition storage buildings owned by the United States Army in St. Louis, Missouri. During the American Civil War, the St...
, it also caused a riot in St. Louis. As commander of the Department of the West, Lyon met with Gov. Jackson and informed him that, "rather than concede to the State of Missouri for one single instant the right to dictate to my government in any matter...I would see you...and every man and woman and child in the State dead and buried." After this, open warfare commenced between pro-Confederate militia and Union forces in Missouri. Gov. Jackson fled St. Louis, and the Missouri State Militia was re-organized to become the Missouri State Guard
Missouri State Guard
The Missouri State Guard was a state militia organized in the state of Missouri during the early days of the American Civil War. While not initially a formal part of the Confederate States Army, the State Guard fought alongside Confederate troops and, at times, under regular Confederate...
—a pro-secession force under the command of Sterling Price and Governor-in-Exile Jackson.
By the time Frémont took command in St. Louis on July 25, 1861, Union forces under Lyon had fought in several engagements against the Missouri State Guard. On August 10, a combined force of Missouri State Guard, Confederate States Army, and Arkansas Militia, consisting of about 11,000 troops, closed in on Lyon's Union force numbering approximately 5,000 near Springfield, Missouri
Springfield, Missouri
Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. According to the 2010 census data, the population was 159,498, an increase of 5.2% since the 2000 census. The Springfield Metropolitan Area, population 436,712, includes the counties of...
. During the ensuing Battle of Wilson's Creek
Battle of Wilson's Creek
The Battle of Wilson's Creek, also known as the Battle of Oak Hills, was fought on August 10, 1861, near Springfield, Missouri, between Union forces and the Missouri State Guard, early in the American Civil War. It was the first major battle of the war west of the Mississippi River and is sometimes...
, Lyon was killed and the federal force routed. Pro-secession sentiment surged throughout Missouri following the Battle of Wilson's Creek. Estimates by Union army officials placed the number of armed secessionists in Missouri at roughly 60,000. Alarmed by the increasing turbulence, Frémont declared martial law in the state of Missouri on August 30, 1861.
Proclamation and reaction
Just before dawn on August 30, Frémont finished penning his proclamation of martial law and read it to his wife and a trusted advisor, Edward Davis of Philadelphia. Davis warned that officials in Washington would never stand for such a sweeping edict. Frémont responded that he had been given full power to put down secession in Missouri and that, as a war measure, the proclamation was entirely warranted.The most controversial passage of the proclamation, and the one with the greatest political consequences, was the following:
All persons who shall be taken with arms in their hands within these lines shall be tried by court-martial, and, if found guilty, will be shot. The property, real and personal, of all persons in the State of Missouri who shall take up arms against the United States, and who shall be directly proven to have taken active part with their enemies in the field, is declared to be confiscated to the public use; and their slaves, if any they have, are hereby declared free.
The two extreme measures described within this passage threatened to alienate Unionists in each of the border states. Drawing a line from Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Cape Girardeau is a city located in Cape Girardeau and Scott counties in Southeast Missouri in the United States. It is located approximately southeast of St. Louis and north of Memphis. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 37,941. A college town, it is the home of Southeast Missouri...
to Leavenworth, Kansas
Leavenworth, Kansas
Leavenworth is the largest city and county seat of Leavenworth County, in the U.S. state of Kansas and within the Kansas City, Missouri Metropolitan Area. Located in the northeast portion of the state, it is on the west bank of the Missouri River. As of the 2010 census, the city population was...
, Frémont declared capital punishment would be administered to any secessionists bearing arms north of that line. Further, the proclamation freed the slaves of any secessionists who took up arms against the government. Frémont issued his proclamation without consulting any authority in Missouri or Washington.
The proclamation freed very few slaves. First, and most prominently, two slaves belonging to an aide of the former Gov. Jackson, Frank Lewis and Hiram Reed, were given their manumission
Manumission
Manumission is the act of a slave owner freeing his or her slaves. In the United States before the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which abolished most slavery, this often happened upon the death of the owner, under conditions in his will.-Motivations:The...
papers. This act received significant coverage by the St. Louis press. Frémont then issued papers to 21 other slaves. However, the greatest significance of the proclamation came in the form of political ramifications. The proclamation set a political precedent, over which there was tremendous disagreement, that the Civil War was a war against slavery. This threatened to tip the delicate political balance in border states. Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland all might have been pushed towards secession if such a precedent had been backed by the federal government at the beginning of the war.
Unionists in Missouri were divided in their reaction. Radical Republicans, who favored abolition, were overjoyed. This included much of the St. Louis press. Frémont surrounded himself with men of this faction, and several Radical Republican politicians had come to St. Louis with him as aides and advisors. These included Illinois Congressman Owen Lovejoy
Owen Lovejoy
Owen Lovejoy was an American lawyer, Congregational minister, abolitionist, and Republican congressman from Illinois. He was also a "conductor" on the Underground Railroad...
(brother of the antislavery journalist Elijah Lovejoy who had been murdered in 1837 by an anti-abolitionist mob), Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
Congressman John A. Gurley
John A. Gurley
John Addison Gurley was a U.S. Congressman from Ohio during the early part of the American Civil War. He was appointed as the first Governor of the Arizona Territory, but died before taking office....
and Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
Congressman John P.C. Shanks. All ardent abolitionists, these men encouraged and influenced Frémont's proclamation. More moderate Unionists were troubled by Frémont's proclamation and pro-slavery conservatives were outraged. Most important, among the moderates in Missouri alienated by Frémont's proclamation was the new governor of Missouri, Hamilton Rowan Gamble
Hamilton Rowan Gamble
Hamilton Rowan Gamble was the chief justice of the Missouri Supreme Court at the time of the Dred Scott Decision in 1852, when his colleagues voted to overturn the 28-year precedent in Misssouri of "once free always free". He wrote a dissenting opinion...
, whose authority Frémont had now superseded by declaring martial law. Feeling that Frémont had greatly overstepped his authority, Gamble began to work for Frémont's removal. In neighboring Kentucky, there was widespread outrage. Although the proclamation pertained only to the state of Missouri, Kentuckians feared that a similar edict might be applied by Frémont to their state. Most slaves in Kentucky belonged to Unionists and threatening to free them could have pushed the state into the Confederacy.
Lincoln's reaction and Frémont's removal
President Lincoln learned of Frémont's proclamation by reading it in the newspaper. Disturbed by Frémont's actions, Lincoln felt that emancipation was "not within the range of military law or necessity" and that such powers rested only with the elected federal government. Lincoln also recognized the monumental political problem that such an edict posed to his efforts to keep the border states in the Union. He was particularly worried about reports he heard of the furor in Kentucky over the edict, writing, "I think to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game." According to Lincoln in a letter to a supporter of Frémont, a unit of Kentucky militia fighting for the Union, upon hearing of Frémont's proclamation, threw down their weapons and disbanded. Lincoln determined the proclamation could not be allowed to remain in force. However, to override the edict or to directly order Frémont to strike out or modify the paragraph had its own political dangers—such an act would outrage abolitionists throughout the North. Sensitive to the political pitfalls on all sides, Lincoln wrote to Frémont, "Allow me to therefore ask, that you will, as of your own motion, modify that paragraph..."Frémont wrote a reply to Lincoln's request on September 8, 1861 and sent it to Washington in the hands of his wife, Jessie Benton Frémont
Jessie Benton Frémont
Jessie Ann Benton Frémont was an American writer and political activist.Notably remembered for being the daughter of Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton and the wife of military officer, explorer and politician, John C. Frémont, she wrote many stories that were printed in popular magazines of the...
, who met with the President in the White House on September 10. In the letter, Frémont stated that he knew the situation in Missouri better than the President and that he would not rescind the proclamation unless directly ordered. Angered, Lincoln wrote Frémont the next day, directly ordering him to modify the emancipation clause to conform with existing federal law—that only slaves themselves acting in armed rebellion could be confiscated and freed.
Lincoln could not allow Frémont's insubordination to go unpunished. However, his dilemma again lay in politics. Removal of Frémont over the emancipation issue would infuriate radicals in Congress. Lincoln determined that if Frémont were to be removed, it would have to be for matters unrelated to the proclamation. He therefore sent Postmaster General
United States Postmaster General
The United States Postmaster General is the Chief Executive Officer of the United States Postal Service. The office, in one form or another, is older than both the United States Constitution and the United States Declaration of Independence...
Montgomery Blair
Montgomery Blair
Montgomery Blair , the son of Francis Preston Blair, elder brother of Francis Preston Blair, Jr. and cousin of B. Gratz Brown, was a politician and lawyer from Maryland...
and Quartermaster General
Quartermaster general (USA)
The Quartermaster General of the United States Army is a general officer who is responsible for the Quartermaster Corps, the Quartermaster branch of the U.S. Army. The Quartermaster General does not command Quartermaster units, but is primarily focused on training, doctrine and professional...
Montgomery Meigs
Montgomery Meigs
Montgomery Cunningham Meigs is a retired United States Army General. He is the great-great-great grandnephew of Montgomery C. Meigs...
to Missouri to evaluate Frémont's management of his department. On his return, Blair reported that a tremendous state of disorganization existed in Missouri and Frémont "seemed stupified...and is doing absolutely nothing." When Adjutant General
Adjutant general
An Adjutant General is a military chief administrative officer.-Imperial Russia:In Imperial Russia, the General-Adjutant was a Court officer, who was usually an army general. He served as a personal aide to the Tsar and hence was a member of the H. I. M. Retinue...
Lorenzo Thomas
Lorenzo Thomas
Lorenzo Thomas was a career United States Army officer who was Adjutant General of the Army at the beginning of the American Civil War. After the war, he was appointed temporary Secretary of War by President Andrew Johnson, precipitating Johnson's impeachment.-Early life:Thomas was born in New...
made his own inspection and reported to Lincoln that Frémont was, "wholly incompetent," Lincoln decided to leak Thomas's report to the press. Amidst the resulting public outrage against Frémont, Lincoln sent an order on October 22, 1861, removing him from command of the Department of the West.
Aftermath
For Frémont, the personal repercussions of his proclamation were disastrous. His removal from command of the Western Department did irreparable damage to his reputation. Giving Frémont a second chance, Lincoln approved his appointment to command the strategically important Mountain Department, overseeing the mountainous region surrounding the Virginia and Kentucky border. Frémont's forces were badly defeated, however, in the Battle of Cross KeysBattle of Cross Keys
The Battle of Cross Keys was fought on June 8, 1862, in Rockingham County, Virginia, as part of Confederate Army Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's campaign through the Shenandoah Valley during the American Civil War...
in Virginia on June 8, 1862. He eventually resigned from frustration at being passed over when Lincoln appointed Maj. Gen. John Pope
John Pope (military officer)
John Pope was a career United States Army officer and Union general in the American Civil War. He had a brief but successful career in the Western Theater, but he is best known for his defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run in the East.Pope was a graduate of the United States Military Academy in...
to command of the Army of Virginia
Army of Virginia
The Army of Virginia was organized as a major unit of the Union Army and operated briefly and unsuccessfully in 1862 in the American Civil War. It should not be confused with its principal opponent, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by Robert E...
, and spent the rest of the war awaiting a new appointment which never came.
For Lincoln, the immediate effects of Frémont's removal resulted in the furor the president had anticipated from northern abolitionists. Massachusetts Governor John Albion Andrew
John Albion Andrew
John Albion Andrew was a U.S. political figure. He served as the 25th Governor of Massachusetts between 1861 and 1866 during the American Civil War. He was a guiding force behind the creation of some of the first U.S. Army units of black men—including the famed 54th Massachusetts Infantry.-Early...
, a Radical Republican and abolitionist, wrote that Lincoln's actions had a "chilling influence" on the antislavery movement. The outrage was only a short-term effect, however, and soon subsided.
The most significant long-term consequence of the Frémont Emancipation was the effect it had on Lincoln's perceptions of emancipation and, specifically, how it should be accomplished. As historian Allen Guelzo describes, Lincoln became determined, after Frémont's failed proclamation, that emancipation could not be a matter of martial law or some other temporary measure that would later be challenged in courts. To ensure its permanence, Lincoln felt, emancipation would have to be put into effect by the federal government in a manner that was incontrovertibly constitutional. Equally important, the timing of emancipation would need to be orchestrated carefully, so as not to interfere with the war effort. Although in 1861, Lincoln had not yet espoused the idea of immediate emancipation and still hoped to work with state governments to accomplish gradual and perhaps even a compensated emancipation, the Frémont incident solidified Lincoln's belief that emancipation was the President's responsibility and could not be accomplished by scattered decrees from Union generals. This realization was one of several factors that led to Lincoln's own Emancipation Proclamation
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation is an executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War using his war powers. It proclaimed the freedom of 3.1 million of the nation's 4 million slaves, and immediately freed 50,000 of them, with nearly...
in September 1862.