Debunking the myth of the Lost Cause: A lie embedded in American history - Karen L. Cox

Examine the myth of the Lost Cause: a campaign created by pro-Confederates after the Civil War to promote the lie that they seceded for state's rights.

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In the 1860’s, 11 southern states withdrew from the United States and formed the Confederacy. They seceded in response to the growing movement for the nationwide abolition of slavery. Yet barely a year after the Civil War ended, southern sources began claiming the conflict was about state’s rights. How did this revisionist history come about? Karen L. Cox examines the cultural myth of the Lost Cause.

Lesson by Karen L. Cox, directed by Anton Bogaty.

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[cinnamonxguy]

"If this war is to be forgotten, I ask the name of all things sacred, what shall men remember?" Damn. What a great quote.

[TheBurgessNetwork]

"Until the lion learns how to write, every story will glorify the hunter." -African proverb

[ethanweeter]

Another reason we can debunk this is the founding documents of the CSA. They mention slavery more often than state’s
rights.

[quantidel]

I began school in Illinois and Minnesota. I never heard the term states rights as the reason did the civil war until I moved to Missouri. Then I was treats with shock and horror that I stated slavery as the reason for the civil war. This was in the nineties

[FinancialShinanigan]

Denying history makes it easier to be repeated

[kamanashiskar]

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."

- Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

Thanks for 1.7 K likes! I never got so many!!! Thank you!!!

[asommer]

Whenever Im confronted in discussion with the States Rights BS I point out that the folks who promoted the separation and war actually wrote down why. There is no need to speculate. Slavery is mentioned more often than any other reason

[dialgafan]

The funny thing about the states rights arguments is it leads to the question of why the Confederacy was worried about states rights and what particular States right they were worried about. Apparently that right was the right to regulate or prohibit slavery. It seems like the states rights argument’s logical conclusion was that slavery was the reason for the civil war.

[rabbit]

I am now 57 and when I was young I was taught that the Civil War was about state's rights. I grew up in Wisconsin. Over the years my cousin learned German and translated many of the letters of our ancestors who were German Lutherans. Our great grandfather fought in the Wilderness. In his letters he never mentions states rights, but talks a lot about the inhumanity of slavery. He was elected sergeant of their company. Fun fact, none of them spoke English, only German.

[MrMighty]

Can't wait for the first comments being like "I used to like TED-Ed but now they just want to push an Agenda"

[anurag]

It is sad how far this myth has spread, all the way to our history curriculum in India.

[FreddieVee]

I am writing this in May 2024, and in Florida, the governor is claiming that slavery benefited many slaves because they learned a trade while on the plantation. Some things never change!!

[jossgoyanko]

Wait a freaking second... THE UDC IS STILL AROUND?!?!?!

[paranoidper]

Here in Sweden we’ve always taught in history classes that the reason for the Civil War was slavery. Ihad never heard of ”the lost cause” until I spent a year in the US as a high school student. It was quite an unsettling experience to learn that entire generations were taught false history.

[MD-gtxw]

As a kid we were taught the Civil War was all about the south not wanting to give up slavery. Our small town even had some tunnels used by the underground railroad to help escaped slaves. We had field trips to underground railroad sites and there was never any talk about so called states right revisionist history. Even though I grew up in rural WI in a place where all kids looked alike (mostly blond hair, blue eyes, germanic ancestry) and not a single minority in our school. The education system in rural WI at least didn't mince words about the civil war and taught about the atrocity of slavery in the southern states and their inhumane treatment of their fellow man.

[Amy-fdxp]

In middle school I remember being told specifically that the civil war was not about slavery. It wasn’t till high school that a teacher said “slavery was a main cause of the civil war” but by then a lot of my classmates didn’t even believe it.

[autumngalix]

I guess I had a lot of good history teachers. We were taught everything horrible about slavery. The selling that seperated family members, the labour that sometimes exhausted those poor people to death, the punishments that they endured, and the dangerous jobs that sometimes left them with gruesome injuries.

It makes me sad to hear that some schools didn't teach this.

[thewestisthebest]

The Republican Party was founded as an anti-slavery party in 1854. When their Presidential Candidate won in 1860 the South feared Lincoln would abolish slavery and so they rebelled to found their own country and keep the practice of slavery alive in the South

It was not about “State’s Rights.” If it was, why did they rebel to found their own new nation?

Sometimes the simplest explanation is the correct one

[penguin]

I attended school in a rural southern town in the 90s. The history being taught was very dependent on who was teaching. I definitely had teachers that tried to downplay slavery's role in the Civil War, but I heard far more Lost Cause rhetoric from older members of the community. There are plenty of younger people that believe these lies because that's what they were told by their family.

[aleksandarvil]

Confederates: *"We didn't lose, We merely failed to win!"*