United States History Student Edition

C

Lincoln Writes to Senator Orville H. Browning September 22, 1861 During the war, Union commanders moving through the South sometimes seized rebel property, including enslaved people. In August 1861, Union General John C. Frémont, who was stationed in Missouri, issued a proclamation that freed all enslaved people in that state who were being held by secessionists. President Lincoln forced Frémont to suspend his proclamation, a move that was widely criticized. In this letter, Lincoln is replying to Senator Orville H. Browning, who felt that Lincoln’s action had hurt the cause for emancipation.

PRIMARY SOURCE: LETTER “ Genl. Frémont’s proclamation, as to confiscation of property, and the liberation of slaves, is purely political, and not within the range of military law, or necessity. If a commanding General finds a necessity to seize the farm of a private owner . . . he has the right to do so, and to so hold it, as long as the necessity lasts; and this is within military law. . . . And the same is true of slaves. If the General needs them, he can seize them, and use them; but when the need is past, it is not for him to fix their permanent future condition. That must be settled according to laws made by law-makers. . . . The proclamation in the point in question, is simply “dictatorship.” It assumes that the general may do anything he pleases. . . . But I cannot assume this reckless position; nor allow others to assume it on my responsibility. You speak of it as being the only means of saving the government. On the contrary it is itself the surrender of the government. ” — Letter from Abraham Lincoln to Honorable Orville H. Browning, September 22, 1861 means way

EXAMINE THE SOURCE 1. Explaining How does Lincoln explain his objection to Frémont’s proclamation? 2. Inferring Why does Lincoln refer to Frémont’s actions as “reckless”?

PHOTO: Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress; TEXT: Lincoln, Abraham. “Letter to Hon. O.H. Browning. Sept. 22, 1861.” In Nicolay, John G. and Hay, John. “Abraham Lincoln: A History.” The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine. Vol. XXXVI, ns Vol. XIV. May-Oct. 1888.

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