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I do not care. In the case of war, you have a loyalty to decide. You fight for the army you swore to, or you pick the enemy combatant. Lee picked the enemy combatant, even if it was his native Virginia. Furthermore, there is another reason I don't have respect for ANY Confederates. The Confederate cause. The #1 issue stated, from the Articles of Secession to the Cornerstone Speech by Alexander Stephens, was the desire to keep slavery.
1st off he was not a traitor because there was nothing in the constitution that said a state could not secede from the union. That was put in the constitution 1n 1869 four years after the end of the Civil war.
First off, he WAS a traitor because he took up arms in open rebellion against the United States of America and its duly elected government.
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Originally Posted by Scotty011
2nd he did not break the oath he swore to the United States because he had already resigned his commission and went home.
Oh, so oaths end when you quit your job? Interesting premise. I guess a man's word doesn't mean much anymore, eh?
However, in those times, many citizens had greater allegiance to their state and region than the Union. Lee was no different in that regard. Lincoln, prior to his assassination, wanted to ensure that members of the former confederacy be welcomed back to the Union at citizens, not traitors. You, on the other hand, view them as traitors and probably would have supported a more punitive (and thus divisive) post war plan.
Keep in mind that Lee was offered a position in the Union army, but felt a stronger loyalty not to the confederacy, but to Virginia.
One must further understand that our own colonial revolutionaries (who also supported slavery) were committing treason against the British Empire.
Anyone who doesn't understand that is an imbecile. What does that have to do with the discussion at hand, however? That if the Confederacy had won, they wouldn't be considered traitors, at the very least within the CSA? That has been covered earlier in the thread and, again, is plain as day to anyone with an above-room-temperature IQ.
First off, he WAS a traitor because he took up arms in open rebellion against the United States of America and its duly elected government.
Oh, so oaths end when you quit your job? Interesting premise. I guess a man's word doesn't mean much anymore, eh?
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Originally Posted by Scotty011
He resigned his commission so yes his obligation ended with his resignation. He was free and clear.
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Originally Posted by hooligan
We will agree to disagree on that point.
you can agree to disagree all you want, but the fact remains that once he resigned his commission from the US army, his oath was no longer in effect, and thus he was free to do as he wished. and he chose to support his home state of virginia.
and once again i will remind you that it was not an easy decision for him to make, he was quite torn about the decision.
you can agree to disagree all you want, but the fact remains that once he resigned his commission from the US army, his oath was no longer in effect, and thus he was free to do as he wished. and he chose to support his home state of virginia.
and once again i will remind you that it was not an easy decision for him to make, he was quite torn about the decision.
And I disagree that an oath to protect and defend the United States ends when you take off the uniform. Mine hasn't, and many, many of my veteran friends feel the same way.
I don't care how "torn" he was about it. He made the wrong choice, lost, and should rightly be considered a traitor for taking up arms against the United States government. Period.
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