Freeing Slaves? An Emancipation Proclamation?

"There are few, I believe, in this enlightened age, who will not acknowledge that slavery as an institution is a moral and political evil."

Slavery is a macabre evil. I will not deny that I have inherited slaves. I will not deny that I used their labor for my own profit. These things, however, reflect nothing of my inner turmoil. God knows that owning and using these people is a sin but, “I think it, however, is a greater evil to the white man than to the black race”. Africans are better off here than they were in the jungles. Those abolitionists are irresponsible and unaccountable” because providence will free the slave in his time through natural causes.

http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/Lee%20on%20Slavery.htm

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