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Between 1860 and 1861, 11 southern
states withdrew from the United States

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and formed 
the Confederate States of America.

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They left, or seceded, in response
to the growing movement

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for the nationwide abolition of slavery.

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Mississippi said,

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“our position is thoroughly identified 
with the institution of slavery.”

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South Carolina cited “hostility
on the part of the non-slaveholding states

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to the institution of slavery.”

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In March 1861, the Vice President 
of the Confederacy, Alexander Stevens,

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proclaimed that the cornerstone of the new
Confederate government

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was white supremacy, or as he put it,

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“slavery” and “subordination” 
to white people

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was the “natural and normal condition” 
of Black people in America

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and the “immediate cause of the late 
rupture and present revolution.”

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Three weeks after the now-infamous
Cornerstone Speech,

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the American Civil War began.

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The conflict lasted four years, 
had a death toll of about 750,000,

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and ended with the Confederacy’s defeat.

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By 1866, 
barely a year after the war ended,

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southern sources began claiming the 
conflict wasn’t actually about slavery.

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Meanwhile, Frederick Douglass,

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a prominent abolitionist 
and formerly enslaved person, cautioned,

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“the spirit of secession
is stronger today than ever.”

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From the words of Confederate leaders,

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the reason for the war could not have
been clearer— it was slavery.

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So how did this revisionist history 
come about?

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The answer lies in the Lost Cause—
a cultural myth about the Confederacy.

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The term was coined by Edward Pollard,
a pro-Confederate journalist.

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In 1866, he published “The Lost Cause:

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A New Southern History 
of the War of the Confederates.”

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Pollard pointed out that 
the U.S. Constitution gave states

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the right to govern themselves
independently in all areas

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except those explicitly designated 
to the national government.

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According to him, the Confederacy 
wasn’t defending slavery,

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it was defending each state’s right 
to choose whether or not to allow slavery.

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This explanation effectively turned 
white southerners’ documented defense

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of slavery and white supremacy into a 
patriotic defense of the Constitution.

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The Civil War had devastated the country,

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leaving those who had 
supported the Confederacy

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grasping to justify their actions.

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Many pro-Confederate writers, 
political leaders, and others

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were quick to adopt and spread 
the narrative of the Lost Cause.

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One organization, 
the United Daughters of the Confederacy,

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played a key role in transmitting 
the ideas of the Lost Cause

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to future generations.

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Founded in Nashville, Tennessee, 
in 1894,

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the UDC united thousands of middle 
and upper class white southern women.

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The UDC raised thousands of dollars to 
build monuments to Confederate soldiers.

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These were often unveiled 
with large public ceremonies,

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and given prominent placements, 
especially on courthouse lawns.

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The Daughters also placed 
Confederate portraits in public schools.

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They monitored textbooks to minimize
the horrors of slavery,

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and its significance in the Civil War,

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passing revisionist history and racist
ideology down through generations.

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By 1918, the UDC claimed 
over 100,000 members.

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As their numbers grew, they increased 
their influence outside the South.

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Presidents William Howard Taft 
and Woodrow Wilson

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both met with UDC members 
and enabled them to memorialize

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the Confederacy 
in Arlington National Cemetery.

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The UDC still exists and defends
Confederate symbols

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as part of a noble heritage of sacrifice
by their ancestors.

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Despite the wealth of primary sources

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showing that slavery was the root cause 
of the Civil War,

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the myth about states’ rights 
persists today.

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In the aftermath of the war,

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Frederick Douglass 
and his abolitionist contemporaries

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feared this erasure of slavery 
from the history of the Civil War

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could contribute 
to the government’s failure

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to protect the rights of Black Americans—

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a fear that has repeatedly
been proven valid.

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In an 1871 address at Arlington Cemetery,
Douglass said:

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“We are sometimes asked 
in the name of patriotism

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to forget the merits 
of this fearful struggle,

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and to remember with equal admiration
those who struck at the nation’s life,

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and those who struck to save it—

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those who fought for slavery and those who
fought for liberty and justice. [...]

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if this war is to be forgotten, 
I ask in the name of all things sacred,

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what shall men remember?”