Darc Requiem said:
Kasz216 said:
Just for the record Robert E. Lee was against slavery and thought it was against slavery. Though he did have some weird views on it. He only sided with the south because he believed in states rights and thought if the North won the south would in many ways be slaves to the north or that the whole country would just be slaves to the government. Also, had America lost the revolutionary war slavery would of been abolished there. It already was abolished by the English during the revolutionary war. So if you think he was a racist you should feel the same way about people like John Adams and many other nothern state revolutionists who found slavery immoral and thought it should be illegal. Robert E Lee actually saw it more as a sin on the white person then the black person. Probably do to the whole "physical life" vs "Afterlife" thing. |
I know why he sided with the South. In fact the Civil War was about states rights and not slavery. Doesn't change my view on Robert E. Lee. He fought for the oppressors of my people despite his disbelief in slavery. That makes him worse than the actual slave owners in my view. |
I wasn't planning to respond to this thread, but when talk turned to the Civil War I caved.
Robert E. Lee didn't fight for the oppressors of your people. He fought for a cause that also happened to be supported by some (and only some) of these oppressors. Only ~5% of Southern white males owned slaves in 1860, and I can assure you that the thousands that died in the Civil War were weren't sacrificing their lives simply so that a few, rich, fat old men could keep their slaves.
As you yourself pointed out, the war was fought over the rights of the state (stemming from controversies over tariffs and other economic disputes), and not over a preservation of slavery.
Racism and oppression can't solely be placed on the shoulders of the South. Virginia had been holding emancipation talks as early as 1853, and the North was quite content having Delaware on it's side without forcing the residents to free a single slave. Most Northerners (particularly from upper-Northern states like New Hampshire) had never even seen a single black man, and had no intentions of freeing them. They were simply fighting to "save the union."
And then there was Lincoln, one of the most racist SoBs I've ever heard of. Licoln was a proponent of "colonization", which involved freeing the slaves and sending them back to Africa, because he felt that whites and blacks simply could not live together. Check out this quote from a debate he had with Stephen Douglas in 1858:
I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in anyway the social and political equality of the white and black races - that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race. I say upon this occasion I do not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior position the negro should be denied everything.
(Source Liberty-Tree.ca)
In conclusion, you can't hold Lee and Jackson accountable for the actions of others. They were great men, and deserve to be honored for their valiant fight against an oppressive federal government.
Also, for everybody else that reads this, remember what I have written, and don't automatically assume that every Confederate flag you see was put up by some racist bastard. The majority of Confederate flag toting Southerners are like myself, and are not racists, but simply believe in the cause that the South fought for (that of freedom from an oppressive federal government) and/or are honoring their forefathers that fought for the South (like my great-great-grandfather).
Oh, and vote Ron Paul. :P
