Robert E. Lee's letter expresses dismay at the State of the Union. He says that the country is going to split and erupt into Civil War. Robert E. Lee says that Civil War is EVIL, but he is scared because the way things are going, the country might go into Civil War. He is basically saying that if there is going to be a war, he will go back to Virginia and defend his homeland. He talks about how he hopes things are settled before the war starts because he says that Civil War is evil. I think this follows Thoreau's theory that you should do what you believe is right even if it is considered wrong. Lee wanted all of this to just go away he did not want it to end up in a Civil War. Slavery was a huge issue at the time, but Thoreau was actually an abolitionist. I think he felt so strongly about this because he felt so strongly about civil disobedience. Slavery was way too over powering. I think that both Emerson and Thoreau just wanted equality and freedom. They wanted thing to be done as they thought things should be done. Transcendentalism was mainly based on equality and freedom (Quinn). I believe that Emerson and Thoreau were right in saying they were for equality because I agree with them. Things should always be done the right way even if some people are telling you that you are doing things the wrong way. At this time in history not many people, especially in the South did not stand up for anything, and this is why our country fell to pieces and we were engaged in a great Civil War. The war could have been totally avoided if all people just did the right thing and made good decisions. I think more people should have agreed with these really smart men because they seemed to actually know what was right.
Lee, Robert E. "Letter to My Son." Weblog post. Wikispaces. 23 Jan. 1861. Web. Feb. 2012.
Quinn, Edward. "Transcendentalism." A Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.
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