Were they alive during the Civil War and fought for the confederacy? This is not a good comparison. Are there statues erected of British officers and soldiers who fought against American patriots? Not many that I know of. While their owning slaves was of course detestable, I'm not sure you can put honoring the Founding Fathers on the same level as honoring people who fought to break up the country in order to keep their slaves, which is the general perception of most folks today I would say. There's a decidedly different racial element to honoring the Confederacy.
Saying that, I don't much care for the removal of these statues myself. I'm a big fan of our shared history, and not a fan of sweeping our darker moments under the rug. I find the Civil War and Confederacy tragically fascinating. I live near some important battlefields in Virginia and the history is palpable at times. Heck, I live within minutes of where they buried Stonewall Jackson's arm!