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Buzz cook

(2,900 posts)

11. Lee was an unreconstructed racist.

Sun May 14, 2017, 09:29 PM

May 2017

There is more than enough evidence that he was more than just tolerant of slavery.
Robert Lee truly believed that Africans were inferior and thus suited for little else than slavery.

In that belief he was little different than many other Americans at the time both North and South.

Yet after the rebellion the South needed to rewrite history and Lee was an important part of that rewrite. The cause needed a "pure and perfect knight" as a symbol of the justice of their cause. Lee, fit that roll in part because of his many military victories.

So it didn't take much white wash to turn Lee into a symbol admired by just about every student of the war.

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Analysis of a Robert E Lee quote about slavery seems pertinent to today's conversation [View all] ProudLib72 May 2017 OP

The protest was not in Richmond, it was in Charlottesville. Yonnie3 May 2017 #1

Jefferson's University of Virginia trof May 2017 #6

Yes and rally leader, white supremacist Richard Spencer, got a BA at UVA in 2001. n/t Yonnie3 May 2017 #7

Yeah, I think I just looked at where it was filed ProudLib72 May 2017 #8

This is local, so it jumped out at me. Yonnie3 May 2017 #10

My point is the absurd rationalization of racism ProudLib72 May 2017 #12

Ha! I was worried someone might think I was condoning them. Yonnie3 May 2017 #15

The south truly was devastated by the war Yupster May 2017 #17

Most of those there are from elsewhere... Demsrule86 May 2017 #22

The city is not redneck but Yonnie3 May 2017 #24

That is true...but Charlottesville area is becoming an extension of Northern Virginia. Demsrule86 May 2017 #26

Yes, but blue mostly near the city. Yonnie3 May 2017 #27

I wonder if he died still rationalizing evil. Boomerproud May 2017 #2

Isn't every age Yupster May 2017 #18

I think he was trying to rationalize something in a different time. kentuck May 2017 #3

By the end of his life Lincoln did. Thaddeus Stevens was always there. DemocratSinceBirth May 2017 #4

We would have been treestar May 2017 #5

Today is not all that different ProudLib72 May 2017 #9

I like your posts, but disagree on this point: raccoon May 2017 #29

I didn't explain that correctly in the previous post ProudLib72 May 2017 #32

Just before the end of the Civil War, Yupster May 2017 #33

Wow. Now that is interesting. nt raccoon May 2017 #35

It was a very interesting tid-bit of US history Yupster May 2017 #37

What did Lincoln (and congress) make of Grant pulling rank? ProudLib72 May 2017 #38

Yes, Grant was pushing Lincoln to do what he thought he wanted to do anyway Yupster May 2017 #39

Historians call it Yupster May 2017 #20

Why were there generals like Grant who truly believed in the cause they were fighting for? DemocratSinceBirth May 2017 #23

Lee was an unreconstructed racist. Buzz cook May 2017 #11

I agree ProudLib72 May 2017 #13

Revisionists keep trotting out the "arm the slaves" letter Buzz cook May 2017 #16

Lee wanted to arm the slaves because Yupster May 2017 #19

He was a traitor, plain and simple, and quite frankly, what we now call white priviledge is... brush May 2017 #28

It was only fitting that his inherited estate became Arlinton Cemetary. Scruffy1 May 2017 #14

Which general do you think would have done significantly better than Lee Yupster May 2017 #21

My Confederate ancestor survived Pickett's charge... VOX May 2017 #25

Interesting post. That's good that you know so much about him. raccoon May 2017 #30

True. He wasn't on the muster sheet until April, 1862... VOX May 2017 #34

Sadly, it wasn't only a Southern ideology. Caliman73 May 2017 #31

Lee was speaking from the ignorance engendered by his privilege. n/t Orsino May 2017 #36