The Legend Of The Lost Cause Analysis

After the Civil War many of the “Lost Cause” advocates stated that their work was not political, this statement is proved correct as the majority of their work was social. The South’s desire to protect the “southern way of life” was the main cause of the “Lost Cause”. Reconstruction left behind the unfortunate legacy of unsuccessfully ending segregation among races in the South, as it did little to fix the issues that the Civil War was fought for. “Lost Cause” advocates stated that their work was not political, there is truth in this statement as there work was primarily social. The primary purpose of the “Lost Cause” was to maintain the preexisting and an idealistic social life of the south. The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) were an example of a group that advocated for the “Lost Cause”. In “The United Daughters of the Confederacy Constitution, 1894” it is stated that one of their main duties was “to collect and preserve material for a truthful history of the war” and to honor those who fought in the war. Additionally, many monuments were made to honor the soldiers, such as the one pictured in the “Commemorative postcard of living Confederate flag, Robert E. Lee Monument, Richmond, Virginia, 1907”. Furthermore, reunion gatherings
Yale Professor Roland Osterweis summarized the cause of the “Lost Cause”. “The Legend of the Lost Cause began as mostly a literary expression of the despair of a bitter, defeated people over a lost identity. It was a landscape dotted with figures drawn mainly out of the past… [it] quickly enveloped in a golden haze, became very real to the people of the South, who found the symbols useful in the reconstituting of their shattered civilization. They perpetuated the ideals of the Old South and brought a sense of comfort to the New.” This however faced some challenges, the Northern carpetbaggers traveled to the South to educate blacks and make money, which threatened the Southerners who feared change in the