especially in
Missouri. Taking advantage of this state of affairs, General John C.
Fremont, in charge of this district, proclaimed military emancipation
in that State on August 30, 1861. All persons with arms were to be
tried by court martial and shot. Their property would be confiscated,
and their slaves would thereby be declared free. He appointed a
military commission, whose business it was to hear evidence and to
issue personal deeds of the manumission of slaves.

When Lincoln was apprised of this proclamation, he forthwith took
action. He feared that the provisions of General Fremont's drastic
order, providing for the confiscation of property and the emancipation
of slaves of traitorous owners, would alarm the Southern friends of
the Union, would drive them over to the seceding faction, and perhaps
would be instrumental in the loss of the border slave States.
Fremont's action was diametrically opposed to Lincoln's policy, in
that such emancipation was purely administrative and political, one of
civil administration that could not be justified by military
necessity. Consequently Lincoln issued an order instructing Fremont to
modify his proclamation by striking out the disturbing provisions of
the proclamation and substituting therefor the act to confiscate
property used for insurrectionary purposes, passed by Congress on
August 6, 1861, which authorized the President to cause property used
or employed in aid of insurrection to be seized, confiscated, or
condemned, providing, however, that such condemnation be made by
judicial procedure.[20]

Lincoln, nevertheless, hoped to increase the number of free States
through compensated emancipation, which he expected to come through
voluntary action on the part of the slave States at the suggestion of
the Federal Government. In his next annual message to Congress,
however, he made no direct reference to any specific plan of
emancipation, but discussed its practical necessities in general terms
so as to leave himself in a position to decide later on a definite
policy.[21] He endeavored to keep before Congress new and possible
contingencies and emphasized the fact that, by virtue of the
Confiscation Act, many of the slaves thus liberated were already
dependent upon the United States for maintenance, and that they must
be provided for. He recommended, therefore, that Congress provide for
accepting such persons from States so affected in lieu of direct
taxes, and that such pe