[drierice]

quotes: “It is worth mentioning that Robert E. Lee was morally opposed to slavery”

“This is, for the most part, a myth propogated by southern historians after the war. His family owned slaves and, while he opposed secession prior to the war, he wasn’t speaking out in opposition to slavery.”

It’s true, he didn’t speak out against slavery, although he wasn’t a political orator who would have spoken out. But you omitted the fact that Lee freed his slaves before the start of the war.

[Tallguy]

I wonder when, exactly, Lee had an opportunity to speak out against Slavery. Prior to the War, Lee was a senior serving officer in the US Army, and that would have put limits on what he could say about a LEGAL practice.

During the War he was obligated to win the war for the Confederacy. Any public statements that he made would have been counterproductive in that task even if they only took away time from his primary task.