The Lost Cause Myth Analysis

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The American Civil War was a war fought within the United States between the North known as the Union and the South known as the Confederacy. The war began in 1861 and lasted until 1865. This war was one of the most destructive events in American history, costing more than 600,000 lives. It is thought to be one of the wars that helped shape the character of the American individual today. From the Southern point of view, this war was a War of Rebellion and the Northern point of view saw this war as a resolution. This unfortunate war started as a result of many years of differences between the Union and the Confederacy. It erupted after many years of conflict that built up between them. The North and the South had many difference economically, …show more content…
In 1866 he had published a justification of the Confederate war efforts which purposed the popular use of the term. “The Lost Cause myth took root during Reconstruction, with pro-Southern writers emphasizing the corruption of federal occupation and the helplessness of white citizens against the power of the federal government and the proportionately large numbers of blacks who went to the polls.” ( Schweikart, Allen 2014) This myth was created as a way for the Confederated to explain the defeat that they took, the institution of slavery and the causes of the Civil War. The confederates tried to find the positive in where they had failed. “The Lost Cause explanation of the Confederate experience, it drew strength from the pages of participants’ memoirs, from speeches at veterans’ reunions, from ceremonies at the graves of soldiers killed while serving in Southern armies and other commemorative events, and from artwork with Confederate themes.”(Gallager 2010) They just wanted to paint a picture for future generations so that they could correctly tell the story of the war. Some even tried to write written records that would help try to influence historians. That’s exactly what it became in time, a memory of the