Comments
on Robert E. Lee as a racist anti-American
This
is not a correct assessment of Lee. Like
many southerners, he believed that slavery was consistent
with God’s will. But, since much spent much of his early life was spent in the
North (some of which as one of the finest students ever at West Point – at
which he was later superintendent), he was relatively unaffected by it. In a letter to his wife he wrote that:
“slavery
as an institution, is a moral & political evil”, but that slaves “are
immeasurably better off here than in Africa, morally, socially &
physically. The painful discipline they are undergoing, is necessary for their
instruction as a race, & I hope will prepare & lead them to better
things. How long their subjugation may be necessary is known & ordered by a
wise Merciful Providence.”
He also supported the proposals that
slaves should be repatriated to Africa and those who fought for the South during
the Civil War should be freed.
Because
he opposed the dissolution of the union, he was offered the rank of major
general to command the defence of Washington, despite the fact that his wife and children
wanted him to accept, he replied:
“I
look upon secession as anarchy. If I owned the four millions of slaves in the
South I would sacrifice them all to the Union; but how can I draw my sword upon
Virginia, my native state?
Despite having to wage war against much larger, better armed and
resourced armies he won many victories and was compared to Napoleon as a
military genius.
Then, when he realized that the war was
lost, he said:
"So far from
engaging in a war to perpetuate slavery, I am rejoiced that slavery is
abolished. I believe it will be greatly for the interests of the South."
After the war, he
supported civil rights for all, as well as a system of free public schools for
blacks, although he opposed allowing them the right vote. On a national scale, he became an icon of
reconciliation between the North and South.
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