September 20, 1861
The article first commends the action of Gen. Fremont, “emancipating under martial law all the slaves belonging to the rebel slaveholders in Missouri”. It then notes that President Lincoln has annulled that act, by making “it conform to the confiscation act adopted by Congress”. The article then goes on to quote John Quincy Adams who asserts that the President, as “commander of the army, has power to order the universal emancipation of the slaves”…Referring to the “annulling”action of the President, the article says: “It is time for such folly and fatuity to end. Either the government must abolish slavery, or the independence of the Southern Confederacy must be recognized. A reunion upon the old basis is alike undesirable and impossible.”
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