The Lost Cause
Confederate veterans' groups and sympathetic historians reframed the war as a noble struggle for "states' rights" and Southern honor, deliberately minimizing slavery's role.
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Claims & Responses
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Every claim links to primary sources
The Pattern
Where These Claims Come From
The "Lost Cause" narrative was deliberately constructed after the war to reframe the Confederacy's defeat. These talking points have a documented history stretching back over a century.
Textbook Campaigns
The United Daughters of the Confederacy successfully lobbied to change school textbooks across the South, embedding Lost Cause narratives in public education.
Political Revival
Confederate symbols resurged during the civil rights era as explicit opposition to desegregation, later defended with "heritage" arguments.
Primary Sources
Go to the Documents
Every rebuttal on this page links to its source. Here are the key documents.
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The documents speak for themselves.