Robert E Lee revered the Old Union that his father and his father’s friends founded; “he wanted to restore that Union….”  He did not oppose reunification, but stressed cooperation; register to vote and elect “wise and patriotic men”.  “The Union, as established by our forefathers, should be preserved and the government as originally organized should be administered in purity and truth.  Lee clung to the idea of limited central gov’t….”

In letters to John Walker and Gov. Letcher of Virginia, he stressed these principles.  Speaking of his military actions with the Confederacy, “I had no other guide,… than the defense of those principles of American liberty upon which the Constitutions of the several states were originally founded; & unless they are strictly observed, I fear there will be an end to Republican Government in this country [sadly prescient]“.  British historian John Dalberg-Acton shared this from a conversation with Lee: “consolidation of the States into one vast republic, sure to be aggressive abroad and despotic at home, will be the certain precursor of that ruin which has overwhelmed all those that have preceded it.”

Lee understood History– Rome went through this chain of events; France from revolution thr. Napoleon went through this chain of events; and so has the US.  As the central gov’t usurped power over the lives of citizens (Federalists1790s; Radical Republicans 1862-80; Liberal Democrats- Wilson, FDR, LBJ ; and both parties’ leaders involved with the Council on Foreign Relations 1919-present), the constitutional republic of our forefathers has been perverted beyond recognition.  Read Patrick J Buchanan’s numerous books detailing this process.  The neo-imperialist central gov’t of the US has  repeatedly acted aggressive abroad since 1917.  Countless incursions in Latin America; the Philippines; Lebanon;  nation-building in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

To his cousin Annette Carter, Lee wrote, “Every brave people who considered their rights attacked & their Constitutional liberties invaded, would have done as we did. Our conduct was not caused by any insurrectionary spirit…, for our construction of the Constitution under which we lived & acted was the same from its adoption & for 80 yrs we have been taught & educated by the founders of the republic… which controlled our consciences & actions.”   He fought to save, not destroy, the Founding Fathers’ original plan.  Lee died in 1870 believing the country’s ills could be cured within the system created by the Founding Fathers.  I share that same belief today.