A few more quotes, just for added measure.

[quote=Robert E. Lee][i]"There is a terrible war coming, and these young men who have never seen war cannot wait for it to happen, but I tell you, I wish that I owned every slave in the South, for I would free them all to avoid this war."[/i][/quote]
[quote=Robert E. Lee][i]"So far from engaging in a war to perpetuate slavery, I am rejoiced that Slavery is abolished. I believe it will be greatly for the interest of the South. So fully am I satisfied of this that I would have cheerfully lost all that I have lost by the war, and have suffered all that I have suffered to have this object attained."[/i][/quote]
[quote=Robert E. Lee][i]"There are few, I believe, in this enlightened age, who will not acknowledge that slavery as an institution is a moral and political evil."[/i][/quote]
[quote=Robert E. Lee][i]"I believe it to be the duty of everyone to unite in the restoration of the country and the reestablishment of peace and harmony."[/i][/quote]
[quote=Robert E. Lee][i]"A nation which does not remember what it was yesterday does not know where it is today."[/i][/quote]
The last is particularly relevant in our day and age, wherein we are content to destroy and bury our past because it is inconvenient and hurts feelings. No less first said by the man whose likeness is now under attack.

As far as I can tell you, General Lee was neither some great martyr of the South nor was he an abomination that cared nothing for the subject of slavery. If anything to me, the man sounds quite human and surprisingly humane. Most anything I can find on him, of which is legitimate, suggests he is not who he is made out to be, which is, as one can reason, closer to truth.

Regardless, specifically now to [@Skepic].

No matter what perspective you use on the matter, the majority at the time did not want that. It did not represent the American vision, specifically the Union's who was ultimately the victor. There's a number of reasons for this, not to say they did not try to enact revenge on the Confederacy for the war (at the time those calling for "added justice" against the Confederacy were Radical Republicans, a fun fact of history nestled there), but more than anything I can say from their view as much as I can understand it, it was for the best. A President was murdered and his vision of the Union was to die with him if they did not follow through with it.

Human beings are emotional and sentimental, as they were then and as they are now. There was no credible way any sort of revenge against the South was likely to take place. This works in both directions as well, as these men were honorable to a fault. Yes, they truly did [i]believe[/i] by and large that by shaking hands and signing defeat that the war was over. Within they [i]knew[/i] it was not, human nature could tell you that for the very reasons you stated, but they held themselves to a higher standard that the majority of people, the regular folk then and to come, could not. They followed honor and dignity to the point it might have well done more harm than good.

As for leaving problems for the future, every generation before the current and many, many before them have posed this problem throughout history. This is no special exception and relatively speaking, not a very unique one if we are talking at length about all of human history.

Transitioning, I can pose you any number of examples as to why I could say the same thing about various other monuments of American history, of which are almost assuredly built well after their relevance. They symbolize dark, cruel time periods in our history or nothing we would really understand as the United States today, yet here they are. Just because people feel that the Civil War is some special exception because it includes the subject slavery, does not mean all the others should too be forgotten in time to come. [i]None[/i] of them should.

Unfortunately, I cannot and will not surrender my stance on this. No monument, statue, relic, site or the like deserves destruction. They all equally deserve their place as tools to be learned from and things to be remembered, regardless of who they represent or why. People just need to cease being offended over everything and get back to life.