You said "Lee agreed that the system of chattel slavery in the south was a positive good, both rational and Christian, and thus an institution fit to be made permanent to serve as the cornerstone of the Confederate "nation"."
Is that what you said I said? I forget.
That was a quote from a book. I even cited the book.
I haven't seen anything from Lee to change that.
Why did Lee refuse Grant's idea to exchange black Union POW's for white?
Because he didn't want to sing "Cumbayah" with them?
Lee was a product of his time. That time was stratified and gentrified. He thought blacks inferior, and probably poor whites too. Look at his nickname. "Marse Robert." What's funny is how the "mean whites" ate it up.
Walt
Of you kept your eyes open you would have. The very same letter you quoted shows Lee advocating emancipation in exchange for service. That does not support a claim that he sought that slavery "be made permanent to serve as the cornerstone of the Confederate "nation"."