Did you know that Robert E. Lee, general of the Confederate army, may well have been a savior of the Constitution of the United States?
Huh?!
You read that right.
Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia wasn't the first defeated. In fact, it could have kept on going. Other confederate commanders had been defeated but they hadn't ended the war.
Robert E. Lee was key.
Let's back up though. Did Lee hate the Constitution? No. In fact, he was invited to become the commander over the Union forces. Abraham Lincoln knew he needed Lee's military genius. Lee actually was pro-Constitution. There were a lot of factors at play in his life, however, and a primary virtue he valued was honor. His family honor was ripped away from him because of his Revolutionary War hero father's post-war habits of gambling and drunkenness.
Robert E. Lee could not strip away his family's honor by leaving his homeland (Virginia) in her time of crisis. But what he could do, he did. He ended the Civil War. He fought a good fight. He out-thought his opponents. He out-maneuvered his opponents. He proved his genius. And then he moved on and urged his countrymen to follow him in that maneuver in becoming good Constitutionalists again.
It broke his heart to leave the Union, and it broke his heart to see so many good men that he loved killed.
He stood up and was counted. He pled with Southerners everywhere to lay down their weapons of war because he knew they could and would continue guerrilla warfare ad infinitum. Like Jesse James did. He knew it was time for the country to heal. Ironically, the Virginian, Robert E. Lee, stood with Abraham Lincoln in reuniting the country. It ruined him financially and respectfully, but he did it anyway. He stood on principle.
Where did I learn this? From books. Books help us remember principles.
It's time to stand for principles again. Remember what Robert E. Lee asked of his countrymen. Heal our country. Stop the divisiveness. Get rid of everything that doesn't matter, schedules that are overfull, driving habits that kill, online bullying that causes tremendous sadness.
It is time to heal each other. People, not processes, are what matters.
Huh?!
You read that right.
Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia wasn't the first defeated. In fact, it could have kept on going. Other confederate commanders had been defeated but they hadn't ended the war.
Robert E. Lee was key.
Let's back up though. Did Lee hate the Constitution? No. In fact, he was invited to become the commander over the Union forces. Abraham Lincoln knew he needed Lee's military genius. Lee actually was pro-Constitution. There were a lot of factors at play in his life, however, and a primary virtue he valued was honor. His family honor was ripped away from him because of his Revolutionary War hero father's post-war habits of gambling and drunkenness.
Robert E. Lee could not strip away his family's honor by leaving his homeland (Virginia) in her time of crisis. But what he could do, he did. He ended the Civil War. He fought a good fight. He out-thought his opponents. He out-maneuvered his opponents. He proved his genius. And then he moved on and urged his countrymen to follow him in that maneuver in becoming good Constitutionalists again.
It broke his heart to leave the Union, and it broke his heart to see so many good men that he loved killed.
He stood up and was counted. He pled with Southerners everywhere to lay down their weapons of war because he knew they could and would continue guerrilla warfare ad infinitum. Like Jesse James did. He knew it was time for the country to heal. Ironically, the Virginian, Robert E. Lee, stood with Abraham Lincoln in reuniting the country. It ruined him financially and respectfully, but he did it anyway. He stood on principle.
Where did I learn this? From books. Books help us remember principles.
It's time to stand for principles again. Remember what Robert E. Lee asked of his countrymen. Heal our country. Stop the divisiveness. Get rid of everything that doesn't matter, schedules that are overfull, driving habits that kill, online bullying that causes tremendous sadness.
It is time to heal each other. People, not processes, are what matters.
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