Anne,

It wasn't a 'teacher', but the course approved by the government (or
whoever then approved course materials) for West Point, and one of the
main sources was a text by a gentleman by the name of Rawls, a gentleman I
understand to be an academic and legal leader of his time; however, I must
admit, I'm not that much up on Rawls, as I'm sure most students today
aren't up on the authors of their text books either.

I still stand by my belief that secession was legal, only proven otherwise
by the point of a bayonet.

Maitland

--- Anne Pemberton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 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
> > > instructions
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> >
> >
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> Anne Pemberton
> [log in to unmask]
>
> http://www.erols.com/stevepem
> http://www.educationalsynthesis.org
>
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