Maitland,

Lee should have stayed with his feeling that secession was wrong. His
teacher at West Point was not correct that it was legal.

                                 Anne

At 01:54 AM 3/11/03 -0800, you wrote:
>Anne,
>
>Lee felt strongly that secession was the wrong [incorrect], thing to do
>and that the sections should continue to work out their differences.  He
>felt it was legal for the South to seceed, and stated so.  He had stated
>that if he had not been taught that secession was legal at West Point (via
>Rawls, etc), he would not have resigned his commission.
>
>He thought it [secession] was not the right thing to do, but, it was
>legal.
>
>Maitland Westbrook
>
>--- Anne Pemberton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > Maitland, I'm confused.  You say Lee say secession was wrong. Are you
> > making a distinction between "wrong" and illegal? Anne
> >
> > Virginia did not wish to secede; R.E. Lee even voiced his opinion that
> > it
> > >was the wrong thing to do.  Only after Lincoln called for troops to
> > invade
> > >the South, did the high South vote to withdraw, and even then, there
> > were
> > >wishes that the situation could be settled peacefully, as witness by
> > the
> > >Southern delegation that went to Washington, but were refused to be
> > seen.
> > >Yes, negoations could have helped, if the North would have sat down at
> > the
> > >table and talked.
> > >
> > >I'm sorry to see PC and accepted 'victors' writings being accepted as
> > >fact.  Many leaders of the South would not have sided with the
> > >Confederacy, including R.E. Lee, if secession had not been legal, and
> > they
> > >said so.  Virginia reserved the right to withdraw from the union in
> > it's
> > >approving document of the constitution, and was accepted by the union
> > as
> > >such.  Action on one's reserved rights in an legal document accepted by
> > >all concerned, can hardly be called illegal.
> >
> > Anne Pemberton
> > [log in to unmask]
> >
> > http://www.erols.com/stevepem
> > http://www.educationalsynthesis.org
> >
> > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the
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>
>
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Anne Pemberton
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