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The Lost Cause is a set of beliefs that endorse the virtues of the antebellum South, viewing the American Civil War as an honorable struggle for the Southern way of life,〔Gallagher (2000) p. 1〕 while overlooking or downplaying the central role of slavery. Yale Professor Roland Osterweis summarizes the content that pervaded "Lost Cause" writings: The Lost Cause belief was founded upon several historically inaccurate or debatable elements. These include the claim that the Confederacy started the Civil War to defend states' rights rather than to preserve slavery, and the related claim that slavery was benevolent, rather than cruel. Historians, including Gaines Foster, generally agree that the Lost Cause narrative also "helped preserve white supremacy. Most scholars who have studied the white South's memory of the Civil War or the Old South conclude that both portrayed a past society in which whites were in charge and blacks faithful and subservient."〔Foster, "Civil War Sesquicentennial: The Lost Cause," (2013)〕 Supporters typically portray the Confederacy's cause as noble and its leadership as exemplars of old-fashioned chivalry and honor, defeated by the Union armies through numerical and industrial force that overwhelmed the South's superior military skill and courage. Proponents of the Lost Cause movement also condemned the Reconstruction that followed the Civil War, claiming that it had been a deliberate attempt by Northern politicians and speculators to destroy the traditional Southern way of life. In recent decades Lost Cause themes have been widely promoted by the Neo-Confederate movement in books and op-eds, and especially in one of the movement's magazines, the ''Southern Partisan''. The Lost Cause theme has been a major element in defining gender roles in the white South, in terms of honor, tradition, and family roles.〔Karen L. Cox, ''Dixie's Daughters: The United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Preservation of Confederate Culture'' (University Press of Florida, 2003)〕 The Lost Cause has been part of memorials and even religious attitudes.〔Charles Reagan Wilson, ''Baptized in Blood: The Religion of the Lost Cause, 1865-1920'' (University of Georgia Press, 2011)〕 ==History== Many White Southerners were devastated economically, emotionally, and psychologically by the defeat of the Confederacy in 1865. Before the war, many Southerners proudly felt that their rich military tradition and superior dedication to the concept of honor would enable them to prevail in the conflict. When this did not happen, white Southerners sought consolation in attributing their loss to factors beyond their control, such as physical size and overwhelming brute force.〔Gallagher (2000) p. 1〕 University of Virginia Professor Gary Gallagher wrote: The Lost Cause became a key part of the reconciliation process between North and South around 1900, and formed the basis of many white Southerners' postbellum war commemorations. The United Daughters of the Confederacy is a major organization that has been associated with the Lost Cause for over a century. Gaines Foster recently stated: 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''.〔Ulbrich, p. 1221.〕 However, it was the articles written by General Jubal A. Early in the 1870s for the Southern Historical Society that firmly established the Lost Cause as a long-lasting literary and cultural phenomenon. The 1881 publication of ''The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government'' by Jefferson Davis, a two-volume defense of the Southern cause, provided another important text in the history of the Lost Cause. Davis blamed the enemy for "whatever of bloodshed, of devastation, or shock to republican government has resulted from the war." He charged that the Yankees fought "with a ferocity that disregarded all the laws of civilized warfare." The book remained in print and was often used to justify the Southern position and to distance it from slavery. Early's original inspiration for his views may have come from General Robert E. Lee. When Lee published his farewell order to the Army of Northern Virginia, he consoled his soldiers by speaking of the "overwhelming resources and numbers" that the Confederate army fought against. In a letter to Early, Lee requested information about enemy strengths from May 1864 to April 1865, the period in which his army was engaged against Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant (the Overland Campaign and the Siege of Petersburg). Lee wrote, "My only object is to transmit, if possible, the truth to posterity, and do justice to our brave Soldiers."〔Gallagher, p. 12.〕 In another letter, Lee wanted all "statistics as regards numbers, destruction of private property by the Federal troops, &c." because he intended to demonstrate the discrepancy in strength between the two armies and believed it would "be difficult to get the world to understand the odds against which we fought." Referring to newspaper accounts that accused him of culpability in the loss, he wrote, "I have not thought proper to notice, or even to correct misrepresentations of my words & acts. We shall have to be patient, & suffer for awhile at least. ... At present the public mind is not prepared to receive the truth."〔 All of these were themes made prominent by Early and the Lost Cause writers in the nineteenth century and that continued to be important throughout the twentieth.〔Gallagher and Nolan p. 43.〕 Memorial associations such as the United Confederate Veterans, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and Ladies Memorial Associations integrated Lost Cause themes to help Southerners cope with the many changes during this era, most significantly Reconstruction.〔Ulbrich, p. 1222.〕〔Janney, p. 40.〕 These institutions have lasted to the present time period and descendants of Southern soldiers continue to attend these meetings. However, these groups are now more geared towards honoring the memory and sacrifices of Confederate soldiers than the continuation of the old Southern ways.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.hqudc.org/ )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lost Cause of the Confederacy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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