Background

The previous post covered the importance of recognizing that slavery was the principal reason for secession, the creation of the Confederacy, and the Civil War. This is important to counter the “Lost Cause” mythology which was prevalent in the South after the war, which attempts to revise history by downplaying the role of slavery in a society far less tolerant to it.

Modern mythology

Confederate monuments—of which there are around 700 standing today—are often defended as symbols of “heritage, not hate”, a claim that portrays the Confederacy as a symbol of Southern culture, rather than the racism at its core. However, there are several key succinct counterarguments for this narrative:

  • Statues (which are often used to honor their subjects) are not necessary for recording history; statues seldom display much, if any, context on their own.
  • The Confederacy only lasted four years, the majority of which was during the Civil War; that’s a short period of time to cultivate any lasting “heritage” relevant 160 years later.
  • As covered previously, the primary reason for the Confederacy was slavery, which is covered at length in historical archives, not on statues.

While perhaps there are those who earnestly believe that the Confederacy represents geographical and cultural pride, ignorant of its true history, the fact remains that they do so in error, a century and a half after it happened—and and the perpetuation of that ignorance isn’t just intentional, but the strategy itself.

Having it both ways

There is a critical rhetorical device to note here: the modern Republican party straddles both sides of the conflict in an attempt to court extremists and moderates alike. Prominent GOP figures have echoed Lost Cause talking points, or resisted efforts to dismantle them:

However, Abraham Lincoln was a Republican—the first Republican president, in fact. And at every level, the GOP takes advantage of this fact. At the top, Trump has said:

Great president. Most people don’t even know he was a Republican? Does anyone know? Lot of people don’t know that.

And down at the bottom of the political ladder, here is a local Republican Town committee echoing this assertion:

Initially united in 1854 by the promise to abolish slavery, the Republican Party has always stood for freedom, prosperity, and opportunity.

The modern Republican Party simultaneously courts sympathizers of a secessionist legacy while claiming credit for the abolitionist heritage of its origins—an ideological split that betrays historical consistency.

Ideological heirs

In both 1865 and 2021, a coalition of predominantly rural, deeply religious, and tradition-oriented communities—rooted in an agrarian economy and skeptical of rapid social change—believed that the cultural values and political priorities of urban, industrial, and more secular elites in the North and national capital were alien to their way of life; convinced that their regional identity and economic interests were being disregarded by a central government increasingly shaped by demographic shifts and ideological opposition, and frustrated by what they perceived as a loss of control over federal institutions despite holding disproportionate influence in the electoral system, they responded to an unfavorable election outcome not with acceptance but with open defiance, challenging the legitimacy of the political process itself, and expressing a readiness to sever or subvert ties with a governing authority they no longer saw as representative or lawful.

Conclusion

The Confederacy did not die in 1865; in 1868, Andrew Johnson pardoned all Confederates and welcomed them back into American society. History doesn’t repeat, but as the saying goes, it does rhyme.