The South’s “Lost Cause” Lost Cause advocates state that their work wasn't political but attempts to control the public’s view of slavery contradict; furthermore, the Lost Cause influenced the work of the UDC and illuminated the legacies of Reconstruction but some service members were not given enough to credit by advocates of the Lost Cause for their service. The Lost Cause was an interpretation of the Civil War that sought to present the war on the best possible terms through the perspective of the Confederates. Even though the Civil War lasted four years, the damage took generations to fix. The Reconstruction is said to have lasted from 1865 to 1877 however, social views and status of blacks took much longer to change. The Lost Cause …show more content…
was the Confederates’ attempt to control the public’s view of slavery in pre-Civil War times by downplaying the reality of the treatment of slaves. Matthew Page Andrews’, “The Women of the South”, exemplified how members of the Confederacy sought to teach the public their interpretation of the Civil War. Since “The Women of the South” was a textbook, the advocates of the Lost Cause were more easily able to spread their interpretation of the Civil War. The Lost Cause’s ideologies were taught to young students, thus influencing their interpretation of the Civil War. Many of the students only knew about the Civil War in the context of which the Lost Cause preached, therefore the students wouldn’t of known of any other perspectives related to the Civil War, especially on issues regarding slavery. Lost Cause advocates wanted to make everybody believe that there was nothing wrong with the South’s way of life and that the Southern states should not be influenced by the Northerners’ beliefs. The Lost Cause heavily influenced the work of the United Daughters of the Confederacy aided the rapid growth of of UDC chapters throughout the South in a short period of time. The United Daughters of the Confederacy’s Constitution proved that the ideals of the Lost Cause were adopted by the UDC. Since the UDC Constitution was developed in 1894--29 years after the end of the Civil War and 17 years after the end of the Reconstruction--the ideals of the Lost Cause were known for quite a while thus the UDC was able to pick up on these ideas and form an organization around them. The Lost Cause was also able to imprint a major impression on schools in the South where some teachers even taught their students the ideologies of the Lost Cause so that future generations could protect the traditional way of Southern living. The legacies of the Reconstruction in the South were influenced largely by the Lost Cause.
Organizations like the United Daughters of the Confederacy and others who supported the Confederacy helped to create memorials to honor the Confederacy and the beliefs the South fought for during the Civil War. Many of the monuments and memorials established after the Civil War were dedicated to people who reflected the Lost Cause. The Commemorative postcard of living Confederate flag in front of the Robert E. Lee Monument in Richmond, Virginia exemplifies how people of the South after the Reconstruction embraced the aspects of the Reconstruction through the perspective of the Lost Cause. Since the picture of the living Confederate flag was a famous postcard in the South in the 20th century, the postcard was likely viewed by a large number of people, especially in the South, which helped spread the influence of the Lost Cause and how the Lost Cause affected the legacy of the Reconstruction. An advertisement in the Confederate Veteran magazine in 1905 proved how monuments influenced people in the South during this time period. Since the Confederate Veterans magazine was a popular magazine in the South, Many people viewed the magazine’s contents and may likely have been influenced by articles in it. People in the South viewed monuments and memorials as a way to remember how life used to be before the Civil War and represent people’s views of the Civil War and the Reconstruction. Lost Cause advocated also believed that the Reconstruction was the North’s way of destroying the Southern way of
life. As the Lost Cause’s goals were to spread their perspective of the Civil War, they failed to give credit to lower ranking veterans who fought in America’s bloodiest war. A Confederate veteran’s letter illuminated how privates and other low ranking men were treated compared to the white officers and other high ranking officials. In order for advocates of the Lost Cause to spread their beliefs more successfully, all soldiers who served in the Civil War should have been acknowledged equally. Since the majority of the soldiers who served for the Confederacy in the Civil War were Privates, this would help a wider range of people to sway to view the Civil War in the perspective that advocates of the Lost Cause promoted. Many memorials and monuments also tended to only honor Generals and other high ranking Confederate soldiers who sacrificed their lives. The Lost Cause served as a means for Southerners to influence people’s views of the Civil War to downplay the brutality and the role of slavery while attempting to preserve the Southern way of life. The Lost Cause had a significant influence on the work of southern Confederate organizations and the legacy of the Reconstruction. However, the Lost Cause failed to recognize all soldiers for their service in the Civil War. Recently in the early part of 2015, there has been a controversy about the public display of the Confederate flag. The Sons of Confederate Veterans are a present-day organization that still holds on the beliefs and interpretations formulated by the Lost Cause. This goes to show that the Lost Cause and a substantial impact and influence on the South for numerous generations.
The American Civil war is considered to be one of the most defining moments in American history. It is the war that shaped the social, political and economic structure with a broader prospect of unifying the states and hence leading to this ideal nation of unified states as it is today. In the book “Confederates in the Attic”, the author Tony Horwitz gives an account of his year long exploration through the places where the U.S. Civil War was fought. He took his childhood interest in the Civil War to a new level by traveling around the South in search of Civil War relics, battle fields, and most importantly stories. The title “Confederates in the Attic”: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War carries two meanings in Tony Horwitz’s thoughtful and entertaining exploration of the role of the American Civil War in the modern world of the South. The first meaning alludes to Horwitz’s personal interest in the war. As the grandson of a Russian Jew, Horwitz was raised in the North but early in his childhood developed a fascination with the South’s myth and history. He tells readers that as a child he wrote about the war and even constructed a mural of significant battles in the attic of his own home. The second meaning refers to regional memory, the importance or lack thereof yet attached to this momentous national event. As Horwitz visits the sites throughout the South, he encounters unreconstructed rebels who still hold to outdated beliefs. He also meets groups of “re-enactors,” devotees who attempt to relive the experience of the soldier’s life and death. One of his most disheartening and yet unsurprising realizations is that attitudes towards the war divide along racial lines. Too many whites wrap the memory in nostalgia, refusing...
The Civil War, beginning in 1861 and ending in 1865, was a notorious event in American history for many influential reasons. Among them was the war 's conclusive role in determining a united or divided American nation, its efforts to successfully abolish the slavery institution and bring victory to the northern states. This Civil War was first inspired by the unsettling differences that divided the northern and southern states over the power that resided in the hands of the national government to constrain slavery from taking place within the territories. There was only one victor in the Civil War. Due to the lack of resources, plethora of weaknesses, and disorganized leadership the Southern States possessed in comparison to the Northern States,
Newman, Ralph G. "Gallant Symbol of the Confederacy." Chicago Daily Tribune (1923-1963), Sep 15, 1957. 1, http://search.proquest.com/docview/180274550?accountid=12085.
Ever since the day the South surrendered to the North in May of 1865, Americans have argued on why the South lost. Others argued that the South never had chance to win the war, yet more than half a million people were killed, homes were lost and destroyed and families were torn apart. There are many theories to explain this, many arguing that the South never had a chance to win the Civil War to begin with, for the North out numbered and had better resources than the South at almost every point, militarily.
The North’s neglect and greediness caused the reconstruction to be a failure.The corrupt government, terrorist organizations, unfocused president, and ignorance were also part of the ending of the reconstruction. President Lincoln didn’t want the civil war he wanted to keep the nation together. When Lincoln went into office he wasn't planning on getting rid of slavery nor starting a civil war. Before the reconstruction era was the civil war. Many good things and bad things came from the civil war. The civil war was a war between the North and the South. The war for the north was to end slavery, but for the south it was about rights and liberty. It wasn’t until afterwards that Americans started to notice the good and the bad. Not as many people
The Civil War marked a defining moment in United States history. Long simmering sectional tensions reached critical when eleven slaveholding states seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. Political disagreement gave way to war as the Confederates insisted they had the right to leave the Union, while the loyal states refused to allow them to go. Four years of fighting claimed almost 1.5 million casualties, resulting in a Union victory. Even though the North won the war, they did a horrible job in trying to win the peace, or in other words, the Reconstruction era. Rather than eliminating slavery in the South, the Southerners had a new form of slavery, which was run by a new set of codes called "Black Codes”. With the help of President Johnson, the South continued their plantations, in essence becoming exactly what they were before the war. Overall, the South won Reconstruction because in the end they got slavery (without the name), they got an easy pass back into the Union, and things reverted back to the way they had been prior the war.
Imagine standing in front of the defaced statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee only to hear two sides of people curse, hurt each other. This situation is too familiar for people who visit Charlottesville, VA, the formerly peaceful town. The controversy between Confederate memorials never ends. Many people argue that Confederate monuments should be taken down because they become the flashpoints of unrest and violence. As far as I am concerned, confederate memorials should remain as these memorials are the legacy of history; history is value-neutral and innocent.
Reconstruction is the period of rebuilding the south that succeeded the Civil War (1861-1865). This period of time is set by the question now what? The Union won the war and most of the south was destroyed. Devastation, buildings turned into crumbles and lost crops. The South was drowning in poverty. To worsen the situation there were thousands of ex-slaves that were set free by the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13 Amendment. "All these ex-slaves", Dr. Susan Walens commented, "and no place to put them," The ex-slaves weren't just homeless but they had no rights, unlike white man. The government and congress had to solve the issues present in the south and the whole nation in order to re-establish the South. These issues were economical, social and political. The United States had presidential and congressional reconstruction. Reconstruction was a failure, a great attempt to unify the nation. It was a failure due to the events that took place during this period.
America has gone through many hardships and struggles since coming together as a nation involving war and changes in the political system. Many highly regarded leaders in America have come bestowing their own ideas and foundation to provide a better life for “Americans”, but no other war or political change is more infamous than the civil war and reconstruction. Reconstruction started in 1865 and ended in 1877 and still to date one of the most debated issues in American history on whether reconstruction was a failure or success as well as a contest over the memory, meaning, and ending of the war. According to, “Major Problems in American History” David W. Blight of Yale University and Steven Hahn of the University of Pennsylvania take different stances on the meaning of reconstruction, and what caused its demise. David W. Blight argues that reconstruction was a conflict between two solely significant, but incompatible objectives that “vied” for attention both reconciliation and emancipation. On the other hand Steven Hahn argues that former slaves and confederates were willing and prepared to fight for what they believed in “reflecting a long tradition of southern violence that had previously undergirded slavery” Hahn also believes that reconstruction ended when the North grew tired of the 16 year freedom conflict. Although many people are unsure, Hahn’s arguments presents a more favorable appeal from support from his argument oppose to Blight. The inevitable end of reconstruction was the North pulling federal troops from the south allowing white rule to reign again and proving time travel exist as freed Africans in the south again had their civil, political, and economical position oppressed.
Reconstruction has been brutally murdered! For a little over a decade after the Civil War, the victorious North launched a campaign of social, economic, and political recovery in South. Martial law was also implemented in the South. Eventually, the North hoped to admit the territory in the former Confederacy back into the United States as states. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments freed the African Americans, made them citizens, and gave them the right to vote. Despite this, Reconstruction was unfortunately cut short in 1877. The North killed Recosntruction because of racism, negligence, and distractions.
The “Lost Cause” was phase that was used describing how various given their own viewpoints of describing the Civil War from how it was so biased and the process of how
Reconstruction was the time period following the Civil War, which lasted from 1865 to 1877, in which the United States began to rebuild. The term can also refer to the process the federal government used to readmit the defeated Confederate states to the Union. While all aspects of Reconstruction were not successful, the main goal of the time period was carried out, making Reconstruction over all successful. During this time, the Confederate states were readmitted to the Union, the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments were ratified, and African Americans were freed from slavery and able to start new lives.
The Civil war could very easily be known as one of the greatest tragedies in United States history. After the Civil War, the people of The United States had so much anger and hatred towards each other and the government that 11 Southern states seceded from the Nation and parted into two pieces. The Nation split into either the Northern abolitionist or the Southern planation farmers. The Reconstruction era was meant to be exactly how the name announces it to be. It was a time for the United States to fix the broken pieces the war had caused allowing the country to mend together and unite once again. The point of Reconstruction was to establish unity between the states and to also create and protect the civil rights of the former slaves. Although Reconstruction failed in many aspects such as the upraise in white supremacy and racism, the reconstruction era was a time the United States took a lead in the direction of race equality.
Prior to the Civil War, African Americans were treated as second class individuals. They lacked the freedom and equality they sought for. To the African Americans, the Civil War was a war of liberation. Contrary to what African Americans perceived, Southerners viewed the war as an episode of their journey to salvation. Southern lands may have been destroyed and depleted, but the South was persistent that their racial order would not be disrupted. To most, the goals of the Reconstruction era were to fully restore the Union, and to some, grant emancipation and liberty to former slaves. Although the newly freedmen gained various rights and liberties, their naïve dreams of complete equality and liberation collapsed due to the immense resistance of the South.
The South was utterly devastated by the end of the Civil War. Hundreds of thousands of fathers, brothers, and sons were dead by 1865. The southern economy was absent due to the outlawing of slave labor; and there was little to no political structure to keep people in order and lead the communities. The South was completely unable to function as a normal society should be able to. In an attempt to make the south able to function, The North adopted a policy of reconstruction. It established a military occupation of the South and attempted to improve the economy and political system to make it a contributing and functioning region of the United States. As a result, between 1860 and 1877, the United States, most notably the South, went through a process of mixed revolution and continuation of old ideals. During the period, constitutional amendments led to a radical revolution in the rights afforded to blacks; however, racist organizations in the South perpetuated the discrimination of blacks in society and politics. Additionally, government aid was not very successful and did little to counteract social inequality.