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Hamilton Rowan Gamble ( November 26 , 1798 - January 31 , 1864 ) was the chief justice of the Missouri Supreme Court who issued a dissenting opinion in the Dred Scott Decision and also served as the provisional governor of Missouri after Union forces captured the state capital at Jefferson City, Missouri in the American Civil War and deposed the elected governor. DRED SCOTT DECISION Hamilton Gamble was born in Winchester, Virginia . In 1818, Gamble joined his brother Archibald Gamble in St. Louis, Missouri . He became prosecuting attorney of the Circuit Court of Howard County, Missouri . In 1824 he was appointed secretary of state by Frederick Bates and moved to the original capital at St. Charles, Missouri . In 1827, he married Caroline J. Coalter of Columbia, South Carolina. She was a sister to the wife of Edward Bates , who was later President Abraham Lincoln ’s attorney general during the Civil War. In 1846, Gamble was elected to the Missouri Supreme Court by the ( Whig Party ). He almost immediately became chief justice. Though a slave owner, he dissented in the Missouri portion of what went on to become the Dred Scott Decision , saying that he did not feel that courts should legislate. He resigned his judgeship in 1855 due to failing health, and in 1858 moved to Pennsylvania. PROVISIONAL GOVERNOR OF MISSOURI When the Civil War began, Missouri attempted to follow a policy of armed neutrality, in which the state would not support either side in the war but remain in the Union (a policy which was agreed to by both sides in the Price-Harney Truce ). However, the policy changed when Union General Nathaniel Lyon was named by Abraham Lincoln to replace General William Harney as commander of the Department Of The West . Lyon promptly began military actions to evict elected Governor Claiborne Jackson from office, following Jackson's refusal to send troops to support the Union cause. Lyon captured Jefferson City, Missouri in late July 1861, forcing Governor Jackson and the state government to flee. Lyon then convened a puppet constitutional convention in the state capital. The convention declared the governor's office to be vacant and appointed Gamble as governor of a Provisional Government of Missouri on August 1. Although Gamble was considered by many to be an unelected puppet of the Union forces, he did oppose harsh treatment of the state, particularly the Fremont Emancipation which unilaterally freed the state's slaves in 1861 and imposed martial law in the state. Lincoln agreed to Gamble's requests and rescinded the emancipation and removed John C. Fremont from command. Gamble was to die in office in 1864 due to complications from a broken arm and the resulting infection after an earlier fall. REFERENCES
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