Analysis of a Robert E Lee quote about slavery seems pertinent to today's conversation [View all]

[ProudLib72]

Last edited Sun May 14, 2017, 08:29 PM - Edit history (1)

By now, most of you should be aware of the protest in Charlottesville, VA against removing a statue of Robert E Lee. Of course, Spencer had to make an appearance and add his piece about how he is proud of his white heritage.

Link to WaPo article about protest: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/alt-rights-richard-spencer-leads-torch-bearing-protesters-defending-lee-statue/2017/05/14/766aaa56-38ac-11e7-9e48-c4f199710b69_story.html?utm_term=.b87f14d137f2

This got me thinking about what Robert E Lee represented and continues to represent for southerners. We know he detested slavery, but he seemed to tolerate it well enough. So how could someone like Robert E Lee hold such ambivalent feelings towards the institution of slavery and still be willing to fight to preserve it?

Here is the quote I want to analyze:

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. 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. How long their subjugation may be necessary is known & ordered by a wise Merciful Providence.

I find it interesting that an educated man would fall back on such a weak argument to defend his rationale for allowing slavery to continue. I call it "weak", but that is probably not a fair assessment of his reasoning skills. Rather, it is indicative of the pervasive southern ideology wrapped up in its familiar religious trappings.

There are three items int this quote that are worth taking note of.
1. The insistence on slaves being better off under their masters in American than they would have been if they had been left in Africa. This is the old justification for colonialism, the idea that the colonizer is more advanced (here it is morally, physically, and socially) than the colonized. It amounts to cultural superiority over a people who are (though never fully understood) deemed primitive. Some of this cultural superiority stems from an infusion of religious beliefs, but I want to treat that separately.

2. The refrain of the white man's burden should be obvious here. Again, we are dealing with a colonial concept, but the sentiment fits easily with a discussion of slavery. It boils down to the culturally superior "race" being tasked with the responsibility of guiding the inferior "race" so that that inferior "race" can (at some yet to be determined future date) finally stand on equal ground with the superior "race". Oh, the white man has it so tough!

3. Finally, there is the religious aspect to consider, the "Merciful Providence". I think it is interesting that he avoids stating outright that it was God who ordered slavery. He is careful to word it in more secular terms that still maintain a religious underpinning. From what little I have read about Lee, this religious aspect is what he struggled with most. (For example, Why did American slaves not have a Jubilee year?) In the end, he seems to give up the struggle and hand himself over to "providence". It's with a sigh that he relieves his embattled reason and relinquishes control to a higher force. I believe this to be the most significant part of the quote as it demonstrates how someone who was certainly very intelligent is able to convince himself that the subject of slavery rests in divine hands. In other words, he convinces himself that it is not his place to question.