“History is written by the victor …” Consequently the victor is always portrayed as fighting for a noble cause for the benefit of the people. The vanquished is always the epitome of evil. That is the fable of the Civil War taught in government schools.

An excerpt from a letter written by Robert E. Lee in response to a speech by then President Pierce tells us what Robert E. Lee actually thought about slavery: “There are few, I believe, in this enlightened age, who will not acknowledge that slavery as an institution is a moral and political evil.”

General Lee was not fighting to preserve the institution of slavery. Loyalty at that time was to your Sovereign State, not a centralized national government. 

Lincoln illegally invaded the South, not to free slaves but to preserve the Union, which favored the mercantilism imported from Great Britain that was bankrupting the South. The Confederacy was defending itself against an unconstitutional invasion by the North.

Robert E. Lee is not a symbol of slavery, but of a great general that was fighting our second War of Independence. Sadly, our second War of Independence was lost resulting in achieving Lincoln’s goal of destroying federalism, state’s rights and the individual liberty established by the founders. Thus we have the tyrannical leviathan Americans suffer under today. 

Rather than removing Lee’s name from history, the residents of Robert E. Lee Lane should honor this great man.  

Joe Meglen
Steamboat Springs