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In the Civil war General Fremont had charge of the state of Missouri. He issued a military proclamation freeing all slaves in the state. Lincoln still had 2 slave states in the Union—Kentucky and Maryland—and wanted to work out a way that the slave owners there could be reimbursed for emancipation. Fremont, a politician who had been a Presidential Candidate in 1856 and always looking for a way of getting headlines, ordered the emancipation. Lincoln wrote this very mild letter explaining his strategy but Fremont wanted to be known amongst the Radical Republicans as a “man of principle” on the slavery issue and instead of rescinding his proclamation asked Lincoln to override it which the President did by Presidential order thus taking the heat from the radical wing of his party for interfering with slave emancipation.