Robert E. Lee

Without the money to attend a university, young Robert E. Lee instead entered the United States Military Academy at West Point. There, he quickly rose in the ranks and graduated second in the class of 1829.

xcool77

Lee's own words tell the complete story, "...slavery as an institution is a moral and political evil." His love and feeling however for "olde Virginia" rook precedence. Keep in mind that was offered command of all Union forces before he chose to align himself with the Southern Cause.

Another Answer

The analysis above is hardly complete, but it is a frequent - and dishonest - answer peddled by Neoconfederate apologists. The quote is genuine but surgically excised from the surrounding text in order to reverse Lee's plain opinion. In order to understand Lee's true feelings about slavery, we ought to look at the whole letter. We can rely on the letter as an accurate insight into Lee's views because it is a personal letter to his wife and not intended for the eyes of the public, so it is unlikely that Lee was moderating his views for outsiders.

In short, Lee, like most southerners, thought that slavery was ordained by God. He felt that as a Christian, it was his duty to support the institution even if the institution had bad (evil) effects on white culture. He believed that abolitionists were working contrary to God's will and it was they who were evil.

His complete letter is below. (1) Lee begins by concurring with the President's condemnation of abolitionist agitation. (2) He argues that the abolitionists are wrongly interfering with the domestic institutions of the South (read: slavery). He predicts that interference with slavery will lead to civil war (as it did). (3) He writes the lines about the evil of slavery so often taken out of context. (4) He then clarifies what that evil is: inconvenience to white people. He argues that slavery is good for blacks! Their "painful discipline" is "necessary." (5) Slavery may end in time, but only when God's will is fulfilled a thousand or more years in the future. (6) God will end slavery in time, but abolitionists who are working to speed up that far future date are working against God's will. God is angry with the abolitionists, but the abolitionist is likely to continue of his "evil course." (7) The abolitionists' religiously based anti-Christian attitude is in conflict with the South's religiously-based attitude.

Robert E. Lee to Mary Custis Lee, December 27, 1856:

(1) The steamer also brought the President's message to Cong; & the reports of the various heads of Depts; the proceedings of Cong: &c &c. So that we are now assured, that the Govt: is in operation, & the Union in existence, not that we had any fears to the Contrary, but it is Satisfactory always to have facts to go on. They restrain Supposition & Conjecture, Confirm faith, & bring Contentment: I was much pleased with the President's message & the report of the Secy of War, the only two documents that have reached us entire. Of the others synopsis [sic] have only arrived.

(2) The views of the Pres: of the Systematic & progressive efforts of certain people of the North, to interfere with & change the domestic institutions of the South, are truthfully & faithfully expressed. The Consequences of their plans & purposes are also clearly set forth, & they must also be aware, that their object is both unlawful & entirely foreign to them & their duty; for which they are irresponsible & unaccountable; & Can only be accomplished by them through the agency of a Civil & Servile war.

(3) In this enlightened age, there are few I believe, but what will acknowledge, that slavery as an institution, is a moral & political evil in any Country.

(4) It is useless to expatiate on its disadvantages. I think it however a greater evil to the white man than to the black race, & while my feelings are strongly enlisted in behalf of the latter, my sympathies are more strong for the former. The blacks 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.

(5) How long their subjugation may be necessary is known & ordered by a wise Merciful Providence. Their emancipation will sooner result from the mild & melting influence of Christianity, than the storms & tempests of fiery Controversy. This influence though slow, is sure. The doctrines & miracles of our Saviour have required nearly two thousand years, to Convert but a small part of the human race, & even among Christian nations, what gross errors still exist!

(6) While we see the Course of the final abolition of human Slavery is onward, & we give it the aid of our prayers & all justifiable means in our power, we must leave the progress as well as the result in his hands who sees the end; who Chooses to work by slow influences; & with whom two thousand years are but as a Single day. Although the Abolitionist must know this, & must See that he has neither the right or power of operating except by moral means & suasion, & if he means well to the slave, he must not Create angry feelings in the Master; that although he may not approve the mode which it pleases Providence to accomplish its purposes, the result will nevertheless be the same; that the reasons he gives for interference in what he has no Concern, holds good for every kind of interference with our neighbors when we disapprove their Conduct; Still I fear he will persevere in his evil Course.

(7) Is it not strange that the descendants of those pilgrim fathers who Crossed the Atlantic to preserve their own freedom of opinion, have always proved themselves intolerant of the Spiritual liberty of others?

More Detail

Part of the Lee marble man myth is that he didn't own slaves. He did. In 1857, Lee inherited 63 slaves from his father-in-law. By the letter of the law these slaves were the property of Lee's wife, Mary. However, in those days the husband largely controlled his wife's property and de facto a wife'e property was the husband's.

Lee's father-in-law's will specified that he and his wife must free the inherited slaves within five years of the father-in-law's death. While neoconfederates love to point out that Lee emancipated his slaves, they conveniently ignore that he emancipated them about a month after he was legally required to do so by the terms of the will.

Between the time Lee and his wife inherited the slaves and their legally required emancipation, one slave reported that Lee had him and his sister brutally beaten. Here is an account in his own words:

"My name is Wesley Norris; I was born a slave on the plantation of George Parke Custis; after the death of Mr. Custis, Gen. Lee, who had been made executor of the estate, assumed control of the slaves, in number about seventy; it was the general impression among the slaves of Mr. Custis that on his death they should be forever free; in fact this statement had been made to them by Mr. C. years before; at his death we were informed by Gen. Lee that by the conditions of the will we must remain slaves for five years; I remained with Gen. Lee for about seventeen months, when my sister Mary, a cousin of ours, and I determined to run away, which we did in the year 1859; we had already reached Westminster, in Maryland, on our way to the North, when we were apprehended and thrown into prison, and Gen. Lee notified of our arrest; we remained in prison fifteen days, when we were sent back to Arlington; we were immediately taken before Gen. Lee, who demanded the reason why we ran away; we frankly told him that we considered ourselves free; he then told us he would teach us a lesson we never would forget; he then ordered us to the barn, where, in his presence, we were tied firmly to posts by a Mr. Gwin, our overseer, who was ordered by Gen. Lee to strip us to the waist and give us fifty lashes each, excepting my sister, who received but twenty; we were accordingly stripped to the skin by the overseer, who, however, had sufficient humanity to decline whipping us; accordingly Dick Williams, a county constable, was called in, who gave us the number of lashes ordered; Gen. Lee, in the meantime, stood by, and frequently enjoined Williams to "lay it on well,��? an injunction which he did not fail to heed; not satisfied with simply lacerating our naked flesh, Gen. Lee then ordered the overseer to thoroughly wash our backs with brine, which was done. After this my cousin and myself were sent to Hanover Court-House jail, my sister being sent to Richmond to an agent to be hired; we remained in jail about a week, when we were sent to Nelson county, where we were hired out by Gen. Lee's agent to work on the Orange and Alexander railroad; we remained thus employed for about seven months, and were then sent to Alabama, and put to work on what is known as the Northeastern railroad; in January, 1863, we were sent to Richmond, from which place I finally made my escape through the rebel lines to freedom; I have nothing further to say; what I have stated is true in every particular, and I can at any time bring at least a dozen witnesses, both white and black, to substantiate my statements: I am at present employed by the Government; and am at work in the National Cemetary on Arlington Heights, where I can be found by those who desire further particulars; my sister referred to is at present employed by the French Minister at Washington, and will confirm my statement. "

Even after the war Lee's views lagged well behind the times. He testified before Congress that freed slaves should not be allowed to vote:

"My own opinion is that, at this time, they cannot vote intelligently, and that giving them the right of suffrage would open the door to a great deal of demagogism, and lead to embarrassments in various ways. What the future may prove, how intelligent they may become, with what eyes they may look upon the interests of the state in which they may reside, I cannot say more than you can."

Lee also went on record that he wanted freed slaves deported from Virginia, and he answered yes when asled whether he thought Virginia's future would be "absolutely injured" and "impaired by the presence of the black population there?"

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Regrettable everything you said except for the accusations of a former slave by the name of Wesley Norris are true. It is well recognized that his particular recount was and is false; however at the same time it is just as accepted that he (Lee) did have slaves disciplined which again in these times could have been a physical action. I was fascinated by your fixation that Lee was an evil person because he owned slaves. So did the almost the entire group of founding fathers, prominent Northerners, Kings and Queens, New York being the second largest group of slaves and slave owners it was a different time, it did not make them bad. It made them rich, much like the big businesses of today whose workers are increasely compared to slaves.

You made this statement again sound like he was because of this idea bad. "Lee also went on record that he wanted freed slaves deported from Virginia, and he answered yes when asled whether he thought Virginia's future would be "absolutely injured" and "impaired by the presence of the black population there?". That is again true but you failed to mention Lee got this idea from Lincoln and the Union Congress which had not seceded:

Abe Lincoln-"If all earthly power were given me," said Lincoln in a speech delivered in Peoria, Illinois, on October 16, 1854, "I should not know what to do, as to the existing institution [of slavery]. My first impulse would be to free all the slaves, and send them to Liberia, to their own native land." After acknowledging that this plan's "sudden execution is impossible," he asked whether freed blacks should be made "politically and socially our equals?" "My own feelings will not admit of this," he said, "and [even] if mine would, we well know that those of the great mass of white people will not ... We can not, then, make them equals."

If we are to tell the truth let's tell all the truth!

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