An Agreement on Both Ends: Viewpoints of Robert E. Lee and Abraham Lincoln on the Civil War

The Civil War was a dark time for America, brother fought against brother, and it is still the costliest war, in terms of lives lost, in American history. The secession of multiple states from the Union of the United States was caused because of disagreements of slavery. While the people and government thought of slavery as a sinful act, and worked hard to banish it from America, the Southern farmers and people depended on slaves for their finical income. Also, with the new territories arriving, and states forming, the tension increased between states that allowed slavery and states that didn’t allow slavery. Abraham Lincoln was the president of the Union during the Civil war, and he brought the Civil war to an end. Robert E. Lee fought on the Confederate side and was a general, yet, he did not agree with the reasoning or the idea of the secession but kept true to his loyalty to his home state, Virginia. Lee’s thoughts on the idea of war is expressed in a letter he wrote to his son, and three years later, Lincoln’s opinion of the war would be shared in his speech at the Gettysburg memorial service. Robert E. Lee was a rare general to encounter in the Confederate, he didn’t want the union of the United States to happen. He believed that the form of a new government was ludicrous and he mourned for his countries sake. Lincoln also mourned for the United States but only because of the people who died for a true cause, and the many more who will die for a good cause. Both Lincoln and Lee mention the founding fathers who helped build the nation that was tumbling down around them in Gettysburg Address, and Letter to His Son, and they mention how the country was testing the Constitutions limits, and how the founding fathers were ignored ...

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...ioned the way this country was built to succeed by its forefathers, and he saw this war as being a tremendous test for the sake of this new country. At the memorial for the Gettysburg battle, Lincoln spoke for only four minutes; yet, the speech has been remembered over the years as one of the greatest speeches the president had given. It was not all encouraging, or pushing down the South, instead it was the truth of the war. Lincoln believed that the founders of the country had built it so they could prove that great, and powerful new countries could exist. The civil war was a tremendous test and the country had passed. Robert E. Lee saw the civil war as something the fathers would have never dreamed of during the writing of the Declaration of Independence, and he fought for the Union of our country, just as Jefferson, Madison, and Washington had before his time.