It isn't Lee the person that's a part of New Orleans history. It's the statue itself, which was erected in 1884. Removing it is kind of like tearing down an historic building. But again, I'm not saying it isn't necessarily the right thing to do under the circumstances.

I'm sure part of the obstinacy of the former Confederate states had to do with the heavy-handed way the north handled reconstruction after the Civil War. Instead of gently bringing the former rebel states back into the fold (which is what Lincoln wanted), Congress punished them by crippling their economy and imposing 'carpetbagger' representatives on them. This all resulted in a festering resentment that manifested itself in a defiant glorification of Confederate "heroes" like Lee, Jefferson Davis and Stonewall Jackson. (It also, by the way, gave rise to the Ku Klux Klan and seriously set back the cause of civil rights in the south.)

Yet another of the many examples from history of how pointless vengeance is.