{"id":956,"date":"2013-06-28T20:39:15","date_gmt":"2013-06-28T20:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/?p=956"},"modified":"2016-06-19T19:32:35","modified_gmt":"2016-06-19T19:32:35","slug":"letter-to-john-fremont-september-2-1861","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/letter-to-john-fremont-september-2-1861\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter to John Fremont (September 2, 1861)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Contributing Editors for this page include Thomas Warf<\/em><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Ranking<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><em><span style=\"color: #0000ff; font-size: 36px;\">#57<\/span> on the list of 150 Most Teachable Lincoln Documents<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Annotated Transcript<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu\/node\/40442\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Two points in your proclamation of August 30th give me some anxiety.&#8221;<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>On This Date<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu\/panel\/this_date\/1861-09-02\" target=\"_blank\">HD Daily Report, September 2, 1861<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thelincolnlog.org\/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&amp;day=1861-09-02\" target=\"_blank\">The Lincoln Log, September 2, 1861<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Custom Map<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/maps.google.com\/maps\/ms?msid=214923210427089848626.0004def4e79e2ae545ca4&amp;msa=0&amp;ll=38.961544,-90.137329&amp;spn=1.529113,2.903137&amp;iwloc=0004e0613eb9052c6fb43\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-3509\" src=\"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/files\/2013\/06\/Screen-shot-2014-02-22-at-9.36.25-PM.png\" alt=\"Screen shot 2014-02-22 at 9.36.25 PM\" width=\"484\" height=\"440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/files\/2013\/06\/Screen-shot-2014-02-22-at-9.36.25-PM.png 692w, https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/files\/2013\/06\/Screen-shot-2014-02-22-at-9.36.25-PM-300x272.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 484px) 100vw, 484px\" \/><br \/>\n<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/maps.google.com\/maps\/ms?msid=214923210427089848626.0004def4e79e2ae545ca4&amp;msa=0&amp;ll=38.961544,-90.137329&amp;spn=1.529113,2.903137&amp;iwloc=0004e0613eb9052c6fb43\" target=\"_blank\">View in Larger Map<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Close Readings<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ufY11MS19Lo?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nPosted at YouTube by &#8220;Understanding Lincoln&#8221; course participant Thomas Warf, August 2014<\/p>\n<h3>How Historians Interpret<\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;Fr\u00e9mont\u2019s political blundering upset Lincoln more than his military ineptitude. \u00a0On August 30, the impulsive, flamboyant, grandiose Pathfinder of the West issued a proclamation establishing martial law throughout Missouri, condemning to death civilians caught with weapons behind Union lines, and freeing the slaves and seizing the property of rebels. \u00a0Before issuing this fateful decree, he had consulted his wife and a Quaker abolitionist but no one in the administration. \u00a0While the Northern press generally lauded the Pathfinder\u2019s emancipation edict, residents of the Bluegrass State indignantly denounced it as &#8216;an abominable, atrocious, and infamous usurpation&#8217;. . .Lincoln gently but firmly urged Fr\u00e9mont to rescind the emancipation order, which went beyond the Confiscation Act passed by Congress in early August, freeing only those slaves directly supporting\u00a0Confederate military efforts. . .The quarrelsome Fr\u00e9mont, who was temperamentally reluctant to follow orders and predisposed to ignore others\u2019 feelings, rashly declined to modify his decree without being instructed to do so. \u00a0He argued that if &#8216;I were to retract of my own accord it would imply that I myself thought it wrong and that I had acted without the reflection which the gravity of the point demanded. But I did not do so. I acted with full deliberation and upon the certain conviction that it was a measure right and necessary, and I think so still.&#8217; \u00a0Defiantly, Fr\u00e9mont ordered thousands of copies of the original proclamation distributed after the president had demanded its modification. \u00a0Reluctantly, Lincoln complied with Fr\u00e9mont \u2019s request for a direct order and thus ignited a firestorm of protest. \u00a0His mailbag overflowed with letters denouncing the\u00a0revocation. \u00a0Pro-secession Missourians took heart. One observer reckoned that the president\u2019s action &#8216;gave more \u2018aid and comfort to the enemy\u2019 in that State than if he had made the rebel commander, Sterling Price, a present of fifty pieces of rifled cannon.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u2013<a href=\"http:\/\/www.knox.edu\/academics\/distinctive-programs\/lincoln-studies-center\/burlingame-abraham-lincoln-a-life.html\" target=\"_blank\">Michael Burlingame,\u00a0<em>Abraham Lincoln: A Life<\/em>\u00a0(2 volumes, originally published by Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008)\u00a0Unedited Manuscript By Chapters, Lincoln Studies Center, Volume 2, Chapter 24 (PDF), pp.\u00a02587-2591<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>NOTE TO READERS<\/h3>\n<p>This page is under construction and will be developed further by students in the new \u201cUnderstanding Lincoln\u201d online course sponsored by the House Divided Project at Dickinson College and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. To find out more about the course and to see some of our videotaped class sessions, including virtual field trips to Ford&#8217;s Theatre and Gettysburg, please visit our Livestream page at <a href=\"http:\/\/new.livestream.com\/gilderlehrman\/lincoln\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/new.livestream.com\/gilderlehrman\/lincoln<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">Searchable Text<\/span><\/h3>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\"><em>Private and confidential.<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">Washington D.C. Sept. 2, 1861.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">Major General Fremont<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">My dear Sir:<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">Two points in your proclamation of August 30th give me some anxiety. First, should you shoot a man, according to the proclamation, the Confederates would very certainly shoot our best man in their hands in retaliation; and so, man for man, indefinitely. It is therefore my order that you allow no man to be shot, under the proclamation, without first having my approbation or consent.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">Secondly, I think there is great danger that the closing paragraph, in relation to the confiscation of property, and the liberating slaves of traiterous owners, will alarm our Southern Union friends, and turn them against us&#8212;perhaps ruin our rather fair prospect for Kentucky. Allow me therefore to ask, that you will as of your own motion, modify that paragraph so as to conform to the\u00a0<em>first<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>fourth<\/em>\u00a0sections of the act of Congress, entitled, &#8220;An act to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes,&#8221; approved August, 6th, 1861, and a copy of which act I herewith send you. This letter is written in a spirit of caution and not of censure.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">I send it by a special messenger, in order that it may certainly and speedily reach you.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">Yours very tr<\/span>uly<\/div>\n<div>A. LINCOLN<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Contributing Editors for this page include Thomas Warf Ranking #57 on the list of 150 Most Teachable Lincoln Documents Annotated Transcript &#8220;Two points in your proclamation of August 30th give me some anxiety.&#8221; On This Date HD Daily Report, September 2, 1861 The Lincoln Log, September 2, 1861 Custom Map View in Larger Map Close [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10858],"tags":[10900,6088,11642,11630,10865,10862],"class_list":["post-956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-great-emancipator","tag-emancipation","tag-letter","tag-management-style","tag-military-affairs","tag-private","tag-wartime"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=956"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4398,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/956\/revisions\/4398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}