The Lost Cause: A Political Movement

Decent Essays
The “Lost Cause” was not a political movement, but instead a movement to make the Confederacy seem like it was glorious. However, there were a few negative outcomes the Lost Cause created regarding people that were involved. After the Civil War (1861-65) and Reconstruction (1865 - 1877), white Southerners celebrated the Confederacy as a heroic “Lost Cause”. Organizations of the “Lost Cause”, such as the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) and the Sons of Confederate Veterans, were dedicated to the commemoration and memorialization of the Confederacy and Confederate veterans. Sources 1, 2, and 3 all have in common that the Confederacy was being

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In this transcript of “Mayor Landrieu’s Address on Confederate Monuments” written by Derek Cosson, Mayor Landrieu advocates for the removal of Confederate monuments located in New Orleans’. The mayor states, “it is self-evident that these men did not fight for the United States of America, they fought against it. They may have been warriors, but in this cause, they were not patriots” (pg.4, 2017). The essence of Mayor Landrieu’s argument is that these statues of Confederate soldiers are not to remain as they glorify the soldiers and the actions that they have done in the past. Statues are there to remember those who are worth remembering for their work to make the country as marvelous as can be.…

    • 931 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jefferson Davis Beliefs

    • 399 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In 1861, the American Civil War tore the country apart. With over 600,000 dead, the United States suffered from heartache and violence. Standing above the many who lost their lives were brave heroes, serving their country while standing up for what they believe in. Among these men was Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate States. Through his bravery and strength came the stone statue on Richmond’s Monument Avenue.…

    • 399 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    From reading For Cause and Comrades, I learned about several motivations and reasons that soldiers from the North and the South fought in the Civil War. Overall, the soldiers and their respective sides fought for very similar reasons and motives. Both sides were fighting for their views on slavery, how the states should govern laws, and how the economy should operate. I plan to analyze and compare the motives for the North and the South and show how each side was fighting for remarkably similar reasons. Through the reasons and motives listed above, we will be able to see the similarities but, also we will be able to see how each side was different as well.…

    • 1084 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Reconstruction Dbq

    • 2023 Words
    • 9 Pages

    The fall of the Confederacy…

    • 2023 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Civil War was a devastating war that wiped out much of America’s population. The book written by James M. McPherson, What They Fought For 1861-1865, describes the views of the soldiers that fought in the war. McPherson uses letters left behind written by different civil war soldiers to portray a more round view of actions that took place on the battlegrounds. McPherson’s thesis does not present from both sides of the war what the soldiers, volunteers and enlisted men, of the Civil War had to faced, how they dealt with their emotions and experiences, the bond made between comrades, and how it affect their overall psychological, physical, and mental well-being of each combatant. This book contains diary entries from Union soldiers that were from the northern states.…

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    If the South could know what music there was in these words Northern ears… it would appreciate the strength of our longing for a complete restoration of the national feeling (Document 14.9 What the Centennial Ought to Accomplish)”. Without the help from the other, the United States would not have become what it is today. Reconstruction and the Civil War created a sense of national pride that was absent before. Through this, each side became loyal, partially to each other, but more so to one country. Through this era, the United States accomplished much as a whole, creating historical moments for her people.…

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Progressive Era is a period in American history defined by radical political and social movements that challenged the foundational principles of the nation. Though classical liberal principles had been challenged in the past, specifically during the Civil War and Reconstruction, it was the Progressive Era that represented a shift in the American political arena away from individualism. During the Progressive Era, egalitarian movements began to take hold in the United States. Activists and reformers from diverse backgrounds and with very different agendas pursued their goals of a better America. As a result, by the turn of the 20th century, industrialization and urbanization had transformed the US into a wealthy and dominant world…

    • 927 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The American Civil War was very misunderstood in that no one really knows the exact reason of why the war started. In Apostles of Disunion, Dew discusses topics such as slavery, racism, economics and state rights to push his point of view on the audience of why the war and secession began. Charles B. Dew wrote this book to inform the audience the secession came from not just the factor of state rights during the time between 1860 and 1861. Because Dew was a Southerner himself, he writes the book off of self-knowledge, experience others, and facts including people and their perspectives on the cause. The most common claim when it came to The Civil War’s cause is it beginning due to slavery and racism in the south; however Dew argues that the…

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Race And Reunion Analysis

    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Blight, David W. Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2001 Thesis: Blight argues that in terms of the American Civil War memory "romance triumphed over reality, (and) sentimental remembrance won over ideological memory (5)" Themes: One of the first themes that appears is rituals and symbolism. Parades, statues, and speeches all came about as a way to remember the war for both sides and for both the black and white race.…

    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the southern states that sided with the Confederacy, the Civil War was viewed as a “Lost Cause.” Despite losing the war, the South applauded the “chivalric Southern soldiers” who fought against the “rapacious Northern industrial machine”(Wills, 2015) in defence of their state rights. The Union may have ratified the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to abolish slavery, but it could not erase the intolerance that still existed in the country. Thus, the amendments held little power over the southern ideals.…

    • 521 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    These values are inscribed into the beliefs of the Confederacy and sharply contrast the changing values of Grant and the Union. Grant represents the future of America as he is fighting to end the beliefs of the privileges of that Lee symbolizes. In the “Western country, there was a deep, implicit dissatisfaction with a past that had settled into grooves. ”(8) and General Grant fought to remove the dissatisfactory foundation that America originated from, alluding to the fact that Grant represents the new foundation of America in which he was fighting to create. General Grant and General Lee have contrasting ideas to fight for as, Grant is fighting for the future and Lee is fighting to preserve the past.…

    • 986 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Introduction The American Civil war occurred during the years 1861 – 1865, and as stated in the article titled “The Civil War”, it “was the cauldron that created modern America. The war preserved the Union, ending the possibility of the American nation dividing into two or more separate countries, in the process altering the nations politics and government, creating a strong presidency and an increasingly important federal infrastructure” (Finkelman sec. 1) However, the American Civil War did not come without coast, as wars never do, an estimated 620,000 men lost their lives in the line of duty. One of the many, yet major causes of this war, came about through slavery; and the standpoint that the northern states took, wanting to abolish slavery,…

    • 1146 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Chandra Manning’s “What this Cruel War was over” poses the question of what the Civil War was fought over. She then introduces the argument that the war was undeniably over slavery. Using the letters, diaries and newspapers of soldiers who lived and fought during the civil war Manning explains the ways in which slavery and race relations influences the men who volunteered and fought in the civil war. Manning begins her book with three quotations that back up her argument.…

    • 821 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    There were many hard fought battles in the Civil War. But, arguably the biggest battle the United States went through, was the Reconstruction of the Civil War. The North may have won the war, but the South got their fair share of victory during reconstruction. The South did everything in their power to make sure “equality” was only preserved for the white man even though slavery was abolished. Once a black man was considered a free slaved, the South would not try to accept change, rather, they refused to respect any freedoms given to a black man.…

    • 1225 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The expanse of war in the South was much larger than in the North. Leaving many plantation destroyed and the cotton market that would not recover. The Civil War was viewed by the South as the “Lost Cause” (textbook, 452) justifying the defeat by moving on hoping for a better future. In turn, the white southern seen the African Americans as “adversaries” (textbook, 453) seeing them as challenging the superiority of white southerner. With so much destruction of property and the defeat to the psych of the southern people.…

    • 814 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays