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
>
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