Lost Cause

(noun)

A set of beliefs common in the white American South in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that described the Confederate campaign as one launched against great odds and heroic despite its defeat.

Related Terms

  • Southern Historical Society
  • United Daughters of the Confederacy
  • Jubal A. Early

Examples of Lost Cause in the following topics:

  • Sectionalism and the New South

    • Yale Professor Roland Osterweis summarizes the content that pervaded "Lost Cause" writings:
    • The Legend of the Lost Cause began as mostly a literary expression of the despair of a bitter, defeated people over a lost identity.
    • The "Lost Cause" beliefs were founded upon several historically inaccurate elements.
    • The term "Lost Cause" first appeared in the title of an 1866 book by the historian Edward A.
    • Pollard: The Lost Cause: A New Southern History of the War of the Confederates.
  • The Aftermath of the War

    • Some scholars, such as those of the Lost Cause tradition, argue that the Union held an insurmountable long-term advantage over the Confederacy in terms of industrial strength and population.
    • Lincoln's eloquence was also important in rationalizing the national purpose and his skill in keeping the border states committed to the Union cause.
  • The Great Depression

    • The market crash marked the beginning of a decade of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging farm incomes, and lost opportunities for economic growth and personal advancement.
    • Although its exact causes are still debated, there were several events that inevitably caused the Great Depression.
    • Thus, American businesses lost several foreign markets in which they normally sold their goods.
    • International credit structure was another cause of the Depression.
    • Senate to study the causes of the Wall Street Crash.
  • The Effects of Watergate

    • As a result of the Watergate Scandal and Nixon's impeachment hearings, the public lost faith and trust in politicians and elected officials.
    • No words can describe the depth of my regret and pain at the anguish my mistakes over Watergate have caused the nation and the presidency, a nation I so deeply love, and an institution I so greatly respect.
  • The Financial Crisis

    • The 2008 global financial crisis was caused by widespread corporate fraud and risky loans and resulted in foreclosures, bank bailouts, and a global recession.
    • If the investment lost money, the investors would be compensated.
    • Many causes for the financial crisis have been suggested, with varying weight assigned by experts.
    • As people lost faith in the economy, stock prices fell by 45%.
    • During the last four months of 2008, one million American workers lost their jobs, and during 2009, another three million found themselves out of work.
  • The Lost Generation

    • The Lost Generation was a group of writers and artists, including many expatriates, who helped define a larger, modernist movement after World War I.
    • You are a lost generation."
    • The “Lost Generation” was greatly influenced by the First World War.
    • American author Ernest Hemingway, pictured in his 1923 passport photo, coined the term "Lost Generation" to describe those who came of age around World War I.
    • Eliot was an important figure among the "Lost Generation" movement of writers.
  • Protective Tariffs

    • During the early years of the United States, protective tariffs were put in place to aid the new nation's economy; however, the taxes caused tension in the South.
    • The tariffs raised questions, however, about how power should be distributed, causing a fiery debate between those who supported states’ rights and those who supported the expanded power of the federal government.
    • The North had an expanding manufacturing base while the South did not; therefore, the South imported far more manufactured goods than the North, causing such tariffs to fall most heavily on the Southern states.
    • The tariff forced the South to buy manufactured goods from U.S. manufacturers, mainly in the North and at a higher price, while Southern states also faced a reduced income from lost sales of raw materials.
  • America's Entry into the War

    • Opinion changed gradually, partly in response to German atrocities in Belgium and the RMS Lusitania, partly as German-Americans lost influence, and partly in response to Wilson's position that America had to play a role to make the world safe for democracy.
    • In return, the Germans would send Mexico money and help it recover the territories of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona that Mexico lost during the Mexican-American War 70 years earlier.
    • Wilson released the Zimmerman note to the public and Americans saw it as a Casus belli—a cause for war.
  • The Knights of Labor and the "Conditions Essential to Liberty"

    • After a rapid expansion in the mid-1880s, it suddenly lost its new members and became a small operation again.
    • Gould met with Powderly and agreed to call off his campaign against the Knights of Labor, which had caused the turmoil originally.
    • They lost many craft unionists that year to the rival Railroad brotherhoods and the new American Federation of Labor , which had more conservative reputations.
  • Settlers and Native Americans

    • The American Revolution caused civil war within the New York-based Iroquois Confederacy.
    • The United States initially treated the Native Americans who had fought as allies with the British as a conquered people who had lost their lands.
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