Why did president Lincoln reverse general fremonts order to free captured slaves?

Answer 1

Lincoln reversed Frémont's order for the following political reason:

1 - when the order was given, the Kentucky was about to decide if secede and join the Confederacy or side with the Union.

2 - The order would have resented the Unionists of important areas of eastern Tennessee and west Virginia.

3 - The order would have contradicted Lincoln's claim stating that the war was being fought to preserve and restore the Union and not to free the slaves.

Novanet- He feared retaliation from the border states, which supported slavery

Answer 2

Lincoln reversed Frémont's order for the following political reason:

1 - when the order was given, the Kentucky was about to decide if secede and join the Confederacy or side with the Union.

2 - The order would have resented the Unionists of important areas of eastern Tennessee and west Virginia.

3 - The order would have contradicted Lincoln's claim stating that the war was being fought to preserve and restore the Union and not to free the slaves.

Novanet- He feared retaliation from the border states, which supported slavery

Answer 3

Because the political and military situation in being in the first period of the war didn't allow the endorsement of such an order. Indeed the public opinion in the "Buffer States", though mainly favourable towards the Union, would have been hurt, leading to military and political consequences very hard if not impossible to redress.

Frémont's order would have particularly alarmed the Kentuckians and harmed Union's interest in that State. Kentucky, one of the largest slave States, had declared its "neutrality" between Union and Confederacy but, pushed by military events happened in its own territory was next to choice the part with which to line.