Robert E. Lee: 1861 Letter to Custis Lee
A Student’s Guide to Essential Primary Sources
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Robert E. Lee: 1861 Letter toCustis Lee
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Abstract
On January 23, 1861, General Robert E. Lee wrote a letter to his son, Custis Lee, sharing his thoughts on secession and the Confederacy. Lee dealt throughout his adult life with questions about slavery, freedom, and race. As a slaveholder, he never questioned white supremacy or Black inferiority. If he questioned slavery at all, it was because it presented a burden to southern whites and not because of its impact upon the lives of southern Blacks.
Contents
- Chapter 1:: Colonial Wars
- Henry Dering: Letter to John Cotton
- Thomas Oliver: “A Memorial of the State of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, with Reference to the War, humbly Offered to your most Sacred Majesty”
- Benjamin Franklin: Join, or Die
- George Washington: Letters to Robert Dinwiddie, 11–14 October 1755
- Proclamation of 1763
- Chapter 2:: American Revolution
- Patrick Henry: Virginia Resolves on the Stamp Act
- Anna Young Smith: “An Elegy to the Memory of the American Volunteers”
- George Washington: Address to the Continental Congress
- Declaration of Independence
- Thomas Paine: Common Sense
- Abigail Adams: “Remember the Ladies” Letter
- George Washington: Letter to John Hancock
- Nicholas Cresswell: Journal of a Loyalist in Virginia
- Molly Gutridge: “A New Touch on the Times”
- Eliza Wilkinson: Letters from a Planter’s Daughter
- George Washington: Farewell Address
- Boyrereau Brinch: Pension Application
- Chapter 3:: The War of 1812
- James Madison: War Message to Congress
- Tecumseh: Speech to Major General Henry Procter at Fort Malden
- Henry Clay: Speech on the Bill to Raise an Additional Military Force
- Francis Scott Key: “The Star-Spangled Banner” (U.S. National Anthem)
- Treaty of Ghent
- Chapter 4:: Slave Revolts
- Robert Hunter: Letter to the Lords of Trade on the New York Slave Revolt of 1712
- James Oglethorpe: “An Account of the Negroe Insurrection in South Carolina”
- William C. C. Claiborne: Letter to Thomas Jefferson
- The Confessions of Nat Turner
- Chapter 5:: Native American Conflicts
- Treaty with the Cherokee, 1798 (First Treaty of Tellico Blockhouse)
- Little Turtle: Address of Little Turtle
- Joseph Cramer: Letter to Major Ed Wynkoop about the Sand Creek Massacre
- Treaty of Fort Laramie
- Wounded Knee Massacre: Statements and Eyewitness Accounts
- Two Moons: A Cheyenne Description of the Battle of the Little Bighorn River
- Little Bear: Account of the Sand Creek Massacre
- Nicholas Black Elk: “The Butchering at Wounded Knee”
- Chapter 6:: Mexican-American War
- Joint Resolution of Congress for the Annexation of Texas
- Thomas J. Green: “Reflections upon the . . . Relations of Texas, Mexico, and the United States”
- James K. Polk: Message to Congress on War with Mexico
- Ephraim Kirby Smith: Letters from the Front in the Mexican War
- Henry Clay: Speech on the Mexican-American War
- Richard Doyle: “The Land of Liberty” Cartoon
- Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
- Frederick Douglass: “The War with Mexico”
- The Other Side; or, Notes for the History of the War between Mexico and the United States
- Ulysses S. Grant: Memoir on the Mexican War
- Chapter 7:: The Civil War
- Abraham Lincoln: First Inaugural Address
- Alexander Stephens: Corner-Stone Speech
- Elisha Hunt Rhodes: Civil War Diary of a Union Soldier
- Frederick Law Olmsted: Journeys and Explorations in the Cotton Kingdom
- Harriet Jacobs: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
- Jefferson Davis: Farewell Address to the U.S. Senate
- Jefferson Davis: Inaugural Address to the Confederacy
- Julia Ward Howe: “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”
- Osborne P. Anderson: A Voice from Harper’s Ferry
- Robert E. Lee: 1861 Letter to Custis Lee
- Sam Houston: Speech on His Refusal to Take the Oath of Loyalty to the Confederacy
- Wendell Phillips: “Under the Flag”
- William Henry Seward: Memorandum to President Abraham Lincoln
- Emancipation Proclamation
- Frederick Douglass: “The Reasons for Our Troubles”
- George Frederick Root: “Battle-Cry of Freedom”
- Robert E. Lee: 1862 Letter to Jefferson Davis
- Treaty between the United States and Great Britain for the Suppression of the Slave Trade
- Abraham Lincoln: Letter to James C. Conkling
- Frances Anne Kemble: Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838–1839
- Frederick Douglass: “Men of Color, To Arms!”
- Gettysburg Address
- Louisa May Alcott: Hospital Sketches
- Robert E. Lee: 1863 Letter to Jefferson Davis
- U.S. War Department General Order 143
- “An Ordinance to Organize and Establish Patrols for the Police of Slaves in the Parish of St. Landry”
- James H. Payne: Letter about “Sister Penny”
- Robert E. Lee: 1864 Letter to Jefferson Davis
- Thomas Morris Chester: Civil War Dispatches
- Ulysses S. Grant: Letter to William Tecumseh Sherman
- Arnold Bertonneau: “Every Man Should Stand Equal before the Law”
- John Jones: “The Black Laws of Illinois: And a Few Reasons Why They Should Be Repealed”
- Photograph of Powder Monkey on USS New Hampshire
- Abraham Lincoln: Second Inaugural Address
- Andrew Johnson: First Annual Message to Congress
- Articles of Agreement Relating to the Surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia
- Black Code of Mississippi
- Convention of Colored Men: Address to the Loyal Citizens of the United States and to Congress
- Robert E. Lee: General Order No. 9
- Robert E. Lee: Letter to Andrew Hunter
- Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
- Ulysses S. Grant: Final Report of Military Operations
- Walt Whitman: Selections from Drum-Taps
- William Lloyd Garrison: Valedictory Editorial of the Liberator
- William T. Sherman: Special Field Order No. 15
- Andrew J. Russell: Ruins of Richmond Photograph
- Photograph of the 107th U.S. Colored Infantry
- Chapter 8:: The Spanish-American War
- William McKinley: Message to Congress about Cuban Intervention
- Victor Gillam: “Remember the Maine! And Don’t Forget the Starving Cubans!”
- William McKinley: “Benevolent Assimilation” Proclamation
- John W. Galloway: A Black Soldier’s Letter from the Philippines
- James W. Poe: “The Slaughter in the Philippines and Its Relation to Massacres of Our People in the South”
- Platform of the Anti-Imperialist League
- Louis Dalrymple: “School Begins”
- Henry Cabot Lodge: Speech on the Retention of the Philippine Islands
- Emil Flohri: “And, After All, the Philippines Are Only the Stepping-Stone to China”
- Chapter 9:: World War I
- Mary L. Graffam: Letter from Turkey
- Henry Cabot Lodge: Speech on Mexico
- Woodrow Wilson: Second Inaugural Address
- Zimmermann Telegram
- Woodrow Wilson: Address to Congress Leading to a Declaration of War against Germany
- Emma Goldman: Speech against Conscription and War
- Robert La Follette: Speech Opposing War with Germany
- Henry Cabot Lodge: Speech on President Woodrow Wilson’s Plan for a World Peace
- Espionage Act
- “Gee! I Wish I Were a Man”: Navy Recruiting Poster
- Eugene V. Debs: Antiwar Speech
- Theodore Roosevelt: Speech to the New York Republican State Convention
- Robert Russa Moton: “The American Negro and the World War”
- Sedition Act
- Woodrow Wilson: Fourteen Points
- Covenant of the League of Nations
- Treaty of Versailles
- W. E. B. Du Bois: “Returning Soldiers”
- Henry Cabot Lodge: Speech Opposing the League of Nations
- “The Colored Americans in France”
- Photograph of Harlem Hellfighters Regiment
- Chapter 10:: World War II
- U.S. Congress: Neutrality Act of 1939
- George Marshall: Speech to the American Historical Association on the National Organization for War
- Walter Reuther: “500 Planes a Day”
- Kichisaburō Nomura: Draft Proposals for Peace between the Governments of Japan and the United States
- Harold Ickes: Speech for “I Am an American Day”
- Franklin D. Roosevelt: Four Freedoms Message to Congress
- Lend-Lease Act
- Executive Order 8802: Banning Discrimination in Government and Defense Industries
- Japan’s Fourteen-part Message
- Franklin D. Roosevelt: “Pearl Harbor” Speech
- Executive Order 9066: Internment of Japanese Americans
- John L. DeWitt: Order for Internment of Japanese Americans in San Francisco
- John DeWitt: Final Report: The Japanese Evacuation from the West Coast, 1942
- George Marshall: Speech to the Graduating Class of the U.S. Military Academy
- Bayard Rustin: “The Negro and Nonviolence”
- “We Can Do It!” Rosie the Riveter Poster
- “Kultur-terror” Pro-German, Anti-American Propaganda Poster
- U.S. War Department: Pamphlet on Censorship
- National War Labor Board: Case No. 771—Southport Petroleum Company (Texas City, Texas) and Oil Workers’ International Union
- Photograph of B-17 Formation over Schweinfurt, Germany
- Ansel Adams: “Manzanar Relocation Center” Photograph
- Photograph of Navajo Code Talkers
- Alfred T. Palmer: “Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant (Chrysler)” Photograph
- Korematsu v. United States
- Dwight D. Eisenhower: Order of the Day
- Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (GI Bill)
- John Pehle and John McCloy: Debate about the Bombing of Auschwitz
- U.S. Department of Defense: Combat Interview of D-Day Survivors of the 116th Infantry Regiment
- Joe Rosenthal: Raising the Flag over Iwo Jima
- Emperor Hirohito: Imperial Rescript on Surrender of Japan
- Douglas MacArthur: Radio Broadcast after the Surrender of Japan
- Harry S. Truman: Statement Announcing the Use of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima
- J. Robert Oppenheimer: Memorandum on the Radiological Dangers of a Nuclear Detonation
- Declaration Regarding the Defeat of Germany
- Yalta Conference Joint Statement
- Potsdam Conference Protocols
- U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey Summary Report
- J. Robert Oppenheimer: Report on the International Control of Atomic Energy
- Robert H. Jackson: Closing Statement before the International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, Germany
- Chapter 11:: The Cold War
- Winston Churchill: “Iron Curtain” Speech
- George F. Kennan: “Long Telegram”
- George Marshall: The Mediator’s View of the Situation in China
- J. Edgar Hoover: Testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee
- Marshall Plan
- Truman Doctrine
- George F. Kennan: “PPS/23: Review of Current Trends in U.S. Foreign Policy”
- Executive Order 9981: Desegregation of the Armed Forces
- North Atlantic Treaty
- Harry S. Truman: Inaugural Address
- Joseph McCarthy: “Enemies from Within” Speech
- J. Edgar Hoover: Letter to Harry Truman’s Special Consultant, Sidney Souers
- Joseph McCarthy: Telegram to President Harry S. Truman
- Joseph McCarthy: Letter to President Dwight Eisenhower
- George Marshall: Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech
- Dwight D. Eisenhower: First Inaugural Address
- John Foster Dulles: Radio and Television Address on Communism in Guatemala
- Warsaw Security Pact
- Allen Dulles: Television Interview on the Soviets’ Intentions
- Paul Robeson: Testimony before HUAC
- John Foster Dulles: Address on U.S. Policy toward Communist China
- Dwight D. Eisenhower: Second Inaugural Address
- Dwight D. Eisenhower: Eisenhower Doctrine
- John Foster Dulles: News Conference on U.S. Relations with Latin American Nations
- Richard M. Nixon: “Kitchen” Debate with Nikita Khrushchev
- Allen Dulles: Address on the Soviet Military Threat
- Walter Reuther: Address before the Berlin Freedom Rally
- Dwight D. Eisenhower: Farewell Address
- John F. Kennedy: Inaugural Address
- Tom Hayden: “The Port Huron Statement of the Students for a Democratic Society”
- John F. Kennedy: Report to the American People on the Soviet Arms Buildup in Cuba
- Lyndon Baines Johnson: Speech to Congress on Assuming the Presidency
- Henry Kissinger and Zhou Enlai: Shanghai Communique
- Biological Weapons Convention
- Helsinki Final Act
- Ronald Reagan: “Evil Empire” Speech
- Ronald Reagan: Address to the Nation on United States Policy in Central America
- Ronald Reagan: Remarks on East-West Relations at the Brandenburg Gate
- Photograph of Berlin Wall Teardown
- George H. W. Bush: Address to the Nation on the Commonwealth of Independent States
- Chapter 12:: The Korean War
- UN Security Council: Resolutions on Hostilities in Korea
- David Douglas Duncan: Captain Francis “Ike” Fenton Photograph
- Harry S. Truman: Report to the American People on Korea
- Thurgood Marshall: Draft of Report on Korea
- Harry S. Truman: Statement and Order on Relieving General MacArthur of His Commands
- Armistice Agreement for the Restoration of the South Korean State
- Dwight D. Eisenhower: Radio and Television Address to the American People Announcing the Signing of the Korean Armistice
- Chapter 13:: Vietnam War
- John McNaughton: Plan of Action for South Vietnam
- Joint Chiefs of Staff: U.S. Department of Defense Rules of Engagement
- Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
- Lyndon Baines Johnson: Remarks on the Gulf of Tonkin Incident
- J. Edgar Hoover: Memo on the Leak of Vietnam War Information
- Bond v. Floyd
- Martin Luther King Jr.: “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence”
- My Lai Massacre Witness Statements and Testimony
- Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District
- Richard M. Nixon: “Silent Majority” Speech
- Richard M. Nixon: Address to the Nation on the Situation in Southeast Asia
- Mexican American Marines in Vietnam
- John Kerry: Testimony of Vietnam Veterans Against the War
- Clay v. United States
- Photograph of Vietnam War Destruction
- Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho: Paris Peace Accords
- Herbert Block: “National Security Blanket” Cartoon
- Chapter 14:: Post–Cold War Conflicts
- George H. W. Bush: Address to the Nation on Panama
- George H. W. Bush: Memorandum on the Arrest of General Manuel Noriega in Panama
- United Nations Security Council Resolution 687
- George H. W. Bush: Address to the Nation Announcing Operation Desert Storm
- Bernie Sanders: Speech on the Persian Gulf War
- Jonas Jordan: Photograph of Burning Oil Field in Kuwait
- William J. Clinton: Address to the Nation on Somalia
- John D. Gresham: “Black Hawk Down” Interview with Michael J. Durant
- Chapter 15:: Iraq-Afghanistan
- George W. Bush: Address to the Nation on September 11, 2001
- 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force
- George W. Bush: Second State of the Union Address
- Bybee Torture Memo
- Colin Powell: Remarks to the United Nations Security Council
- George W. Bush: Address to the Nation on Military Operations in Iraq
- J. Scott Applewhite: “Mission Accomplished” Photograph
- Robert C. Byrd: “The Emperor Has No Clothes” Speech
- Antonio Taguba: Taguba Report
- Condoleezza Rice: “International Support for Iraqi Democracy”
- Iraq Study Group Report
- Report on the Death of Pat Tillman
- Barack Obama: “A New Beginning” Speech on U.S.-Muslim Relations
- Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan
- Brennen Lege: Photograph of U.S. Withdrawal from Kabul