"Secession is nothing but revolution. The framers of our Constitution never exhausted so much labor, wisdom and forbearance in its formation, and surrounded it with so many guards and securities, if it was intended to be broken by every member of the Confederacy at will. It was intended for "perpetual union
I didn't know, but I had a hunch it would be a bit of irony and figured who I thought it might be. I won't spoil it, but I guessed correctly.
My grandparents had his and a prominent politician's biographies (both several volumes long) on their bookshelf my entire childhood. I got them after they died but didn't get to read but bits and pieces before going off to school. My mother then sold the house and put everything in storage, so I don't have them now. I'm hoping she'll find them now that she's going back through all that stuff.
Forgive the rambling. It's an interesting quote.
The letter it's from was in the lit books I taught from in the last part of my student teaching. We read it my last week; I don't think I'd heard it before.
btw, the letter goes on to say something to the effect that a union that must be held together by muskets is no union at all. The author goes on to say that he's going to go home and won't raise up arms again unless it's in defense of his home.
I suspected who it may have been and then found the confirmation online...
Robert E. Lee.
One of the ironies of history is that Lee was offered the command of the Union army, before Virginia seceded.
He could not fight against his home state of Virginia. I think this is portayed in Gods and Generals (Movie). It is also on episode 1 of the Ken Burns series on the Civil War.
I also heard a quote rather similar to either Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address or the Gettysburg Address, which was actually said by Robert E. Lee.