protectionist
Diamond Member
- Oct 20, 2013
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- #41
1. FALSE! Lee was a SOLDIER. Politicians make war against countries. Soldiers are mere hired hands, who receive orders, and follow them, like plumbers, carpenters, musicians.Lee committed treason when he fought against the United States. Lincoln would have had every right to have him hung for that. The same with every other Confederate officer that had been a former US officer. Had not those men fought for the Confederacy, the rebellion would have been over in six months. So, yes, those soldiers did contribute in a major way to the carnage that ensued.
2. As for Lincoln, he was not opposed to slavery, and was himself a white supremacist. In Notes on the State of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson postulated that “the blacks…are inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind.” Jefferson’s biological white supremacy was echoed in the political arena by Abraham Lincoln in 1858 at his fourth debate with Stephen Douglas in Charleston, Illinois. “I am not, nor even have been,” Lincoln stated, “in favor of bringing about in any way 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 as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.”
3. Soldiers had no part in the policies of slavery, secession, or Confederacy. Many didn't even know what the Confederacy was, or even of the existence of slavery. Many, form southern mountain states, never even knew the black people existed. Most southerners fought only because people from hundreds of miles away were attacking them, shooting at them, blowing up their buildings and bridges, burning down their churches, etc. What would you do, in such a case ? Nothing ?
4. Many southern soldiers joined the army just to escape poverty. Meals, lodging, and uniforms (c0mplete with boots) were provided. Many said > "This is the best suit of clothes I've ever owned."