Civil War reconstruction.

Through the period of Reconstruction a grassroots movement spread throughout South; a movement to rewrite history to a way that is more favorable to the Southern Cause and efforts. This movement has been called both the Lost Cause and the Reconciliationist movement, as the name simply changed over time. The Lost Cause movement began with prominent figures of the Confederacy attempting to further the ideals they fought for in the Civil War, in doing so …

…of the war with happier artificial memories. The reason the Reconciliationist movement was able to take control of society was the romantic ideas of the South, of honor, pride and loyalty, were grasped by the whole country in an attempt to escape from the horrors of war, Reconstruction, and the economic crisis which followed; and subsequently the idea of not changing the status quo and upsetting society kept it in place through the early 1900s.