The Lost Cause Summary

146 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Civil war research essays

The editors Gary Gallagher and Alan Nolan intend to construct, through essays from various authors, a meaningful explanation of the Lost Cause as a myth. Gallagher and Nolan build on previous literature in engaging various aspects of the white South's response to defeat, and the attempt to create a past that is suitable for the South. The book takes the views of nine historians and offers different relationships between the Civil War and the Lost Cause. The book provides the modern historian's interpretations of the Lost Cause relating to a specific aspect of the Civil War. The authors in the book are in agreement with the current scholarship that the Lost Cause is a myth while showing the origins, development, and influence of the Lost Cause.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Apostles Of Disunion

    1039 Words  | 3 Pages

    In, “Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War,” Charles B. Dew analyzes the public letters and speeches of white, southern commissioners in order to successfully prove that the Civil War was fought over slavery. By analyzing the public letters and speeches, Dew offers a compelling argument proving that slavery along with the ideology of white supremacy were primary causes of the Civil War. Dew is not only the Ephraim Williams Professor of American History at Williams College, but he is also a successful author who has received various awards including the Elloit Rudwick Prize and the Fletcher Pratt Award. In fact, two of Dew’s books, Tredegar Iron Works and Apostles of Disunion and Ironmaker to

    Read More

  • ThestuAnalysis of For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought In The Civil War by James M. McPherson

    1162 Words  | 3 Pages

    From the day, the first European set foot on American soil up until the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, which occurred in 1865. Slavery was a controversial issue. The issue of slavery divided up the United States of America to ultimately put the two against each other. The Northern States who identifies themselves as the Union disapproved of the atrocious actions of the South who condone the crude treatment of slaves and the disturbing practices of slavery. Although slavery was not the sole cause of the Civil war, it played an important part in the disunion of the United States. The battle between states rights and federal rights rubbed more salt in the already enormous wound. Southern States who later considers themselves the confederates disapproved of the idea that the available actions of the states to act upon certain situations were dwindling, reducing the power and rights of the states. The set up of all these complications and disagreements led to the secession of the southern states which initiated the start of the brutal American Civil War which lasted from 1861 to 1865.

    Read More

  • Analysis of For Cause and Comrades

    546 Words  | 2 Pages

    The book ‘For Cause and Comrades’ is a journey to comprehend why the soldiers in the Civil War fought, why they fought so passionately, and why they fought for the long period of time. Men were pulling guns against other men who they had known their whole lives. McPherson’s main source of evidence was the many letters from the soldiers writing to home. One of the many significant influences was how the men fought to prove their masculinity and courage. To fight would prove they were a man to their community and country. Fighting also had to do with a duty to their family. Ideology was also a major motivating factor; each side thought they were fighting for their liberty. The soldier’s reputations were created and demolished on the battlefield, where men who showed the most courage were the most honored. Religion also played an important role because the second Great Awakening had just occurred. Their religion caused the men who thought of themselves as saved to be fearless of death, “Religion was the only thing that kept this soldier going; even in the trenches…” (McPherson, p. 76) R...

    Read More

  • The Central Theme of Southern History by Ulrich B. Phillips

    1616 Words  | 4 Pages

    Imagine a historian, author of an award-winning dissertation and several books. He is an experienced lecturer and respected scholar; he is at the forefront of his field. His research methodology sets the bar for other academicians. He is so highly esteemed, in fact, that an article he has prepared is to be presented to and discussed by the United States’ oldest and largest society of professional historians. These are precisely the circumstances in which Ulrich B. Phillips wrote his 1928 essay, “The Central Theme of Southern History.” In this treatise he set forth a thesis which on its face is not revolutionary: that the cause behind which the South stood unified was not slavery, as such, but white supremacy. Over the course of fourteen elegantly written pages, Phillips advances his thesis with evidence from a variety of primary sources gleaned from his years of research. All of his reasoning and experience add weight to his distillation of Southern history into this one fairly simple idea, an idea so deceptively simple that it invites further study.

    Read More

  • Themes Of Redemption The Last Battle Of The Civil War

    982 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the historical narrative Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War, Nicholas Leman gives readers an insight into the gruesome and savage acts that took place in the mid-1870s and eventually led to the end of the Reconstruction era in the southern states. Before the engaging narrative officially begins, Lemann gives a 29-page introduction to the setting and provides background information about the time period. With Republican Ulysses S. Grant as President of the United States of America and Republican Adelbert Ames, as the Governor of Mississippi, the narrative is set in a town owned by William Calhoun in the city of Colfax, Louisiana. As a formal military commander, Ames ensured a

    Read More

  • "The New View of Reconstruction"

    315 Words  | 1 Pages

    People attending schools before 1960’s were learning about certain “unscrupulous carpetbaggers”, “traitorous scalawags”, and the “Radical Republicans”(223). According to the historians before the event of 1960’s revision, these people are the reason that the “white community of South banded together to overthrow these “black” governments and restore home rule”(223). While this might have been true if it was not for the fact that the “carpetbaggers were former Union soldiers”, “Scalawags… emerged as “Old Line” Whig Unionists”(227). Eric Foner wrote the lines in his thesis “The New View of Reconstruction” to show us how completely of target the historians before the 1960’s revision were in their beliefs.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of What They Fought For

    1044 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Dammed if I ever did know”, an answer from a Confederate soldier in the book Sartoris (2). The question of why they fought or better yet What They Fought For. James McPherson wrote What They Fought For: 1861-1865 in memory of civil war soldiers making an audience see the real answer of what they fought for.

    Read More

  • Civil War and The South's Loss

    1824 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Why did the North win the Civil War?” is only half of a question by itself, for the other half is “Why did the South lose the Civil War?” To this day historians have tried to put their finger on the exact reason for the South losing the war. Some historians blame the head of the confederacy Jefferson Davis; however others believe that it was the shear numbers of the Union (North). The advantages and disadvantages are abundant on either sides of the argument, but the most dominate arguments on why the South lost the war would be the fact that state’s rights prevented unification of the South, Jefferson Davis' poor leadership and his failure to work together with his generals, the South failed to gain the recognition of the European nations, North's superior resources made the outcome inevitable, and moral of the South towards the end of the war.

    Read More

  • Reconstruction in America After the Civil War

    879 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The War within The War by Timothy Findley

    1727 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Struggles in life is something everyone is faced with whether it is physical, emotional mental or personal struggles. These struggles are capable of shaping an individual’s personality and outlook on life. Timothy Findley’s novel The Wars, shows that struggles lead to the character’s ultimate inner struggles, outer struggles and self-discovery. War exists in a person’s physical and psychological aspects. In The Wars, Robert Ross goes to war and fights a personal and physical battle.

    Read More

  • Review of the Forgotten Soldier

    669 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many people question if Guy Sajer, author of The Forgotten Soldier, is an actual person or only a fictitious character. In fact, Guy Sajer in not a nom de plume. He was born as Guy Monminoux in Paris on 13 January 1927. At the ripe young age of 16, while living in Alsace, he joined the German army. Hoping to conceal his French descent, Guy enlisted under his mother's maiden name-Sajer. After the war Guy returned to France where he became a well known cartoonist, publishing comic books on World War II under the pen name Dimitri.

    Read More

  • The Lost Cause Analysis

    972 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Race And Reunion Summary

    1013 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the period of Reconstruction, the meaning of the Civil War has adapted into many different visions: the reconciliationist vision, the white supremacist vision, and the emancipationist vision. The significance of the war has been constantly altered because of the many different perspectives about the war. Because the Civil War caused destruction directly to both the North and South with over 600 thousand deaths, the meaning of the war has been altered to and from the “twin goals.” --- healing and justice. In Race and Reunion, Blight argues that the “twin goals” and “competing interests” have changed with the idea of having a different goal of reuniting the Union.

    Read More

  • Failure of Mission Command by General McClellan

    2308 Words  | 5 Pages

    Heidler, David Stephen, and Jeanne T. Heidler, eds. Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: a

    Read More

  • The Lost Cause Thesis

    894 Words  | 2 Pages

    The dictionary defines ‘lost cause’ as a defeated cause or a cause for which defeat is inevitable. After the Civil War “The Lost Cause” narrative depicted the unsuccessful movement to end slavery. While slavery was the main motivation of the South to participate in the Civil War, the Confederates dispute of the Union brought about a war in which the Northern and Western states fought to preserve the Union and the South fought to establish independence as a new confederation of stated under its own constitution. Southern whites to this day struggle to admit that the cause in which their ancestors fought in the Civil War in defense of slavery. The Southerners began to memorialize their failed cause when they established

    Read More

More about The Lost Cause Summary

Open Document