Neo-Confederates

Modern American political grouping

Maryland Sons of Confederate Veterans marching in Arlington National Cemetery in 2014

Neo-Confederates are groups and individuals who portray the Confederate States of America and its actions during the American Civil War in a positive light. The League of the South (formed in 1994), the Sons of Confederate Veterans (formed 1896), and other neo-Confederate organizations continue to defend the secession of the 11 Confederate States.

## Etymology

[edit]

A rectangular variant of the Confederate battle flag, also known colloquially as the Southern Cross

The first national flag of the Confederate States with 13 stars, used from November 28, 1861, to May 1, 1863, and colloquially known as the Stars and Bars

The second national flag of the Confederate states, used from May 1, 1863, to March 4, 1865, and colloquially known as the Stainless Banner

The third national flag adopted on March 4, 1865, shortly before the end of the American Civil War and also known colloquially as the Bloodstained Banner

Four flags commonly seen at neo-Confederate events[citation needed]

Historian James M. McPherson used the term "neo-Confederate historical committees" in his description of the efforts which were undertaken from 1890 to 1930 to have history textbooks present a version of the American Civil War in which secession was not rebellion, the Confederacy did not fight for slavery, and the Confederate soldier was defeated by overwhelming numbers and resources.[1] Historian Nancy MacLean used the term "neo-Confederacy" in reference to groups, such as the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, that formed in the 1950s to oppose the Supreme Court of the United States rulings demanding racial integration, in particular Brown v. Board of Education (1954).[2] Former Southern Partisan editor and co-owner Richard Quinn used the term when he referred to Richard T. Hines, former Southern Partisan contributor and Ronald Reagan administration staffer, as being "among the first neo-Confederates to resist efforts by the infidels to take down the Confederate flag."[3]

An early use of the term came in 1954. In a book review, Leonard W. Levy (later a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1968) wrote: "Similar blindness to the moral issue of slavery, plus a resentment against the rise of the Negro and modern industrialism, resulted in the neo-Confederate interpretation of Phillips, Ramsdell and Owsley."[4]

Historian Gary W. Gallagher stated in an interview that neo-Confederates do not want to hear him when he talks "about how important maintaining racial control, white supremacy, was to the white South."[5] He warns, however, that the term neo-Confederate can be overused, writing, "Any historian who argues that the Confederate people demonstrated robust devotion to their slave-based republic, possessed feelings of national community, and sacrificed more than any other segment of white society in United States history runs the risk of being labeled a neo-Confederate."[6]

## History

[edit]

### Origins of the "Lost Cause" movement

[edit]

The "Lost Cause" is the name which is commonly given to a movement that seeks to reconcile the existence of the traditional society of the Southern United States with the defeat of the Confederate States of America at the end of the American Civil War of 1861–1865.[7] Those who contribute to the movement tend to portray the Confederacy's cause as noble and they also tend to portray most of the Confederacy's leaders as exemplars of old-fashioned chivalry who were defeated by the Union's armies because the Union's armies used overwhelming force rather than superior military skills. They believe that the history of the Civil War which is commonly portrayed is a "false history". They also tend to condemn Reconstruction, the era when African Americans were first allowed to vote.

On its main website, the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) speaks of "ensuring that a true history of the 1861-1865 period is preserved", claiming that "[t]he preservation of liberty and freedom was the motivating factor in the South's decision to fight the Second American Revolution."[8]

James M. McPherson has written the following about the origins in 1894 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC): "A principal motive of the UDC's founding was to counter this 'false history' which taught Southern children 'that their fathers were not only rebels but guilty of almost every crime enumerated in the Decalogue.'"[9] Much of what the UDC called "false history" centered on the relationship between slavery and secession and the war. The chaplain of the United Confederate Veterans (UCV), forerunner of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, wrote in 1898 that history books as written could lead Southern children to "think that we fought for slavery" and would "fasten upon the South the stigma of slavery and that we fought for it ... The Southern soldier will go down in history dishonored".[10] Referring to a 1932 call by the Sons of Confederate Veterans to restore "the purity of our history", McPherson notes that the "quest for purity remains vital today, as any historian working in the field can testify."[11]

### 20th century

[edit]

In the 1910s, Mildred Rutherford, the historian general of the UDC, spearheaded the attack on schoolbooks that did not present the Lost Cause version of history. Rutherford assembled a "massive collection" which included "essay contests on the glory of the Ku Klux Klan and personal tributes to faithful slaves".[12] Historian David Blight concluded: "All UDC members and leaders were not as virulently racist as Rutherford, but all, in the name of a reconciled nation, participated in an enterprise that deeply influenced the white supremacist vision of Civil war memory."[13]

In the 1930s, Seward Collins, a self-described "fascist publisher", provided an avenue for white supremacists and neo-Confederates to advance their ideology in The American Review, a literary journal openly sympathetic to European fascism.[14] The connections and overlap between white supremacist, fascist, far-right, and neo-Confederate ideologies persisted, and remain in place in the present day.[15]

Historian Alan T. Nolan refers to the Lost Cause as "a rationalization, a cover-up". After describing the devastation that was the consequence of the war for the South, Nolan states:

> Leaders of such a catastrophe must account for themselves. Justification is necessary. Those who followed their leaders into the catastrophe required similar rationalization. Clement A. Evans, a Georgia veteran who at one time commanded the United Confederate Veterans organization, said this: "If we cannot justify the South in the act of Secession, we will go down in History solely as a brave, impulsive but rash people who attempted in an illegal manner to overthrow the Union of our Country."[16]

Nolan further states his opinion of the racial basis of Lost Cause mythology:

> The Lost Cause version of the war is a caricature, possible, among other reasons, because of the false treatment of slavery and the black people. This false treatment struck at the core of the truth of the war, unhinging cause and effect, depriving the United States of any high purpose, and removing African Americans from their true role as the issue of the war and participants in the war, and characterizing them as historically irrelevant.[16]

In the 1930s and 1940s, supporters of Nazi Germany sought cross appeal with American neo-confederates. Despite a shared commitment to white supremacy and antipathy towards American Liberalism, the Nazis found few sympathizers amongst white southerners, even the KKK itself.[17] Starting in the 1970s, neo-confederate ideals and organizations became increasingly associated with the emerging neo-Nazi movement.[17] Critics often associate Neo-Confederates with fascism in the United States.[18][19][20]

### Contemporary evaluations

[edit]

Historian David Goldfield observes:

> If history has defined the South, it has also trapped white southerners into sometimes defending the indefensible, holding onto views generally discredited in the rest of the civilized world and holding on the fiercer because of that. The extreme sensitivity of some Southerners toward criticism of their past (or present) reflects not only their deep attachment to their perception of history but also to their misgivings, a feeling that maybe they've fouled up somewhere and maybe the critics have something.[21]

When asked about purported "neo-Confederate revisionism" and the people behind it, Arizona State University professor and Civil War historian Brooks D. Simpson said:

> This is an active attempt to reshape historical memory, an effort by white Southerners to find historical justifications for present-day actions. The neo-Confederate movement's ideologues have grasped that if they control how people remember the past, they'll control how people approach the present and the future. Ultimately, this is a very conscious war for memory and heritage. It's a quest for legitimacy, the eternal quest for justification.[22]

## Tenets and core beliefs

[edit]

### Historical revisionism

[edit]

Neo-Confederates often hold iconoclastic views about the American Civil War and the Confederate States of America. Neo-Confederates are openly critical of the presidency of Abraham Lincoln to varying degrees and they are also critical of the history of Reconstruction. Various authors have written critiques of Lincoln and the Union. Major General William Tecumseh Sherman's March to the Sea is singled out for purported atrocities like the burning of Atlanta which neo-Confederates believe were committed against Southern civilians, in contrast to the mainstream historical perspective which argues that Sherman targeted Southern infrastructure and curtailed killing rather than expand it. Slavery is rarely mentioned—when it is, it is usually not defended and is denied as a primary cause of the Confederacy's starting of the American Civil War. Critics often accuse neo-Confederates of engaging in "historical revisionism" and acting as "apologists".[23][24]

Neo-Confederates have been accused of downplaying the role of slavery in triggering the Civil War and misrepresenting African-American support for the Confederacy.[25] The book The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader says that toward the end of the 20th century—in order to support the idea that the Civil War was not about slavery—neo-Confederates began to claim that "thousands of African Americans had served in the Confederate army". A neo-Confederate publication, Confederate Veteran, published by the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Military Order of the Stars and Bars, said in 1992 that "the overwhelming majority of blacks during the War Between the States supported and defended, with armed resistance, the Cause of Southern Independence".[26] Historian Bruce Levine says that "their [neo-Confederates'] insistent celebration these days of 'Black Confederates' ... seeks to legitimize the claim" that the war "had never [italics in original] been fought on behalf of slavery; loyalty to the South, Southern self-government, Southern culture, or states' rights — rather than slavery and white supremacy — fueled the Southern war effort".[27]

The honor of the Confederacy and its veterans is another controversial feature of neo-Confederate dogma. The neo-Confederate movement is concerned about giving honor to the Confederacy itself, to the veterans of the Confederacy and Confederate veterans' cemeteries, to the various flags of the Confederacy and Southern cultural identity.[28]

### Political beliefs

[edit]

Political values held by neo-Confederates vary, but they often revolve around a belief in limited government, states' rights, the right of states to secede, and Southern nationalism—that is, the belief that the people of the Southern United States are part of a distinct and unique civilization.

Neo-Confederates typically support a decentralized national government and are strong advocates of states' rights.[29][30] Neo-Confederates are strongly in favor of the right of secession, claiming it is legal and thus openly advocate the secession of the Southern states and territories which comprised the old Confederate States of America. The League of the South, for example, promotes the "independence of the Southern people" from the "American empire".[31] Most neo-Confederate groups do not seek violent revolution, but rather an orderly separation, such as was done in the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. Many neo-Confederate groups have prepared for what they view as a possible collapse of the federal United States into its 50 separate states, similarly to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and believe the Confederacy can be resurrected at that time.[32]

From the 1950s onward, the growth of neo-Confederate ideology was part of a larger reactionary movement against desegregation and the civil rights movement.[33] Historian Nancy MacLean states that neo-Confederates used the history of the Confederacy to justify their opposition to the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s.[34] Historian David Blight writes that current neo-Confederates are "driven largely by the desire of current white supremacists to re-legitimize the Confederacy, while they tacitly reject the victories of the modern civil rights movement".[35]

### Cultural and religious

[edit]

Neo-Confederates promote foundational Christian culture.[clarification needed] They support public displays of Christianity, such as Ten Commandments monuments and displays of the Christian cross.[36] Some neo-Confederates view the Civil War struggles as being between Christian orthodoxy and anti-Christian forces.[37][38] Certain neo-Confederates believe in an "Anglo-Celtic" identity theory for residents of the South.[39]

### Economic policies

[edit]

Neo-Confederates usually advocate a free market economy which engages in significantly less taxation than currently found in the United States and which does not revolve around fiat currencies such as the United States dollar.[31] Some of them desire an extreme type of laissez-faire economic system involving a minimal role for the state.[30] Other Neo-Confederates believe in distributionism as well as a display of populist tendencies[vague] since the Civil War. Figures such as Absolom West, Leonidas L. Polk, and William M. Lowe went on to join the Populist movements of their respective times. There is a minority of neo-Confederates who believe the Confederacy to have been Socialist citing the writings of George Fitzhugh; this was also displayed in Louise Biles Hill's book, State Socialism in the Confederate States. Many who believe this also point to Albert Parsons as another example.

## Neo-Confederates and libertarianism

[edit]

Historian Daniel Feller asserts that libertarian authors Thomas DiLorenzo, Charles Adams and Jeffrey Rogers Hummel have produced a "marriage of neo-Confederates and libertarianism". Feller writes:

> What unites the two, aside from their hostility to the liberal academic establishment, is their mutual loathing of big government. Adams, DiLorenzo, and Hummel view the Civil War through the prism of market economics. In their view its main consequence, and even its purpose, was to create a leviathan state that used its powers to suppress the most basic personal freedom, the right to choose. The Civil War thus marks a historic retreat for liberty, not an advance. Adams and DiLorenzo dismiss the slavery issue as a mere pretext for aggrandizing central power. All three authors see federal tyranny as the war's greatest legacy. And they all hate Abraham Lincoln.[40]

In a review of libertarian Thomas E. Woods Jr.'s The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, in turn Hummel refers to the works by DiLorenzo and Adams as "amateurish neo-Confederate books". Of Woods, Hummel states that the two main neo-Confederate aspects of Woods' work are his emphasis on a legal right of secession while ignoring the moral right to secession and his failure to acknowledge the importance of slavery in the Civil War. Hummel writes:

> Woods writes 'that the slavery debate masked the real issue: the struggle over power and domination' (p. 48). Talk about a distinction without a difference. It is akin to stating that the demands of sugar lobbyists for protective quotas mask their real worry: political influence. Yes, slaveholders constituted a special interest that sought political power. Why? To protect slavery.[41]

Hummel also criticizes Woods' "neo-Confederate sympathies" in his chapter on Reconstruction. Most egregious was his "apologia for the Black Codes adopted by the southern states immediately after the Civil War". Part of the problem was Woods' reliance on an earlier neo-Confederate work, Robert Selph Henry's 1938 book The Story of Reconstruction.[41]

Historian Gerald J. Prokopowicz mentioned apprehension toward recognizing Lincoln's role in freeing slaves as well as libertarian attitudes towards the Confederacy in an interview regarding his book Did Lincoln Own Slaves? And Other Frequently Asked Questions about Abraham Lincoln:

> Some critics look at his careful and politically practical approach to ending slavery and mistake it for reluctance to help African-Americans. Others overlook slavery altogether and romanticize the Confederacy as a libertarian paradise crushed by the tyrant Lincoln. But since even Lincoln's most extreme opponents can't deny that the end of slavery was a good thing, they have to try to disassociate Lincoln from emancipation, and that leads to the absurdity of implying that Lincoln must have been a slave owner.[42]

Some intellectuals who have helped shape the modern neo-Confederate movement have been associated with libertarian organizations such as the Mises Institute. These individuals often insist on the South's right to secede and typically hold views in stark contrast to mainstream academia in regards to the causes and consequences of the American Civil War.[43][30] Zack Beauchamp of ThinkProgress argues that because of its small size, the libertarian movement has become partially beholden to a neo-Confederate demographic.[44] In contemporary politics, some libertarians have tried to distance themselves from neo-Confederate ideology while also critiquing President Lincoln's wartime policies, such as the suspension of habeas corpus, from a libertarian perspective.[45]

## Neo-Confederate views and the Republican Party

[edit]

This article is part of a series on

Conservatism
in the United States

Schools

* Compassionate
* Fiscal
* Fusion
* Liberal
* Classical
* Libertarian
* Moderate
* Movement
* Nationalist
* Christian
* Neo-
* Paleo-
* Postliberal
* Populist
* Progressive
* Social
* Straussian
* Traditionalist
* Ultra-

Principles

* American exceptionalism
* Anti-communism
* Christian Zionism
* Communitarianism
* Constitutionalism
* Familialism
* Family values
* Federalism
* States' rights
* Subsidiarity
* Gender essentialism
* Judeo-Christian values
* Individualism
* Law and order
* Limited government
* Meritocracy
* Natural aristocracy
* Militarism
* Peace through strength
* Moral absolutism
* Natalism
* Pro-life
* Natural law
* Ordered liberty
* Patriotism
* Property rights
* Republicanism
* Right to bear arms
* Rule of law
* Supply-side economics
* Tradition

History

* Loyalists
* Federalist Era
* Southern chivalry
* Redeemers
* Boston Brahmins
* Solid South
* New Humanism
* Dunning School
* Southern Agrarians
* Old Right
* Conservative Manifesto
* Conservative coalition
* America First Committee
* McCarthyism
* Goldwater campaign
* New Right
* Reagan era
* Reagan Doctrine
* Reaganomics
* Republican Revolution
* W. Bush presidency
* Tea Party movement
* Neo- vs. paleoconservatism
* Trump era
* First term
* Second term
* Agenda 47

Intellectuals

* Adams
* Anton
* Babbitt
* Bacevich
* Bell
* Bellow
* Bloom
* Boorstin
* Bradford
* Buckley
* Burgess
* Burnham
* Calhoun
* Chambers
* Conquest
* Deneen
* Eliot
* Francis
* Genovese
* Gottfried
* Hanson
* Hardin
* Hazony
* Himmelfarb
* Hoppe
* Hurston
* Jaffa
* Kimball
* Kirk
* Kirkpatrick
* Kreeft
* Kristol
* Kuehnelt-Leddihn
* Lind
* Lovecraft
* Loury
* Lukacs
* Luntz
* Mansfield
* Mencken
* Meyer
* Molnar
* Murray
* Nisbet
* Pangle
* Ransom
* Reno
* Rieff
* Santayana
* Schaeffer
* Sowell
* Strauss
* Vermeule
* Viereck
* Voegelin
* Wattenberg
* Weaver
* Wolfe

Politicians

* Abbott
* Adams
* Boehner
* Bolton
* Buchanan
* Bush (George H. W.)
* Bush (George W.)
* Calhoun
* Clay
* Cheney
* Cleveland
* Coolidge
* Cruz
* DeSantis
* Dirksen
* Dole
* Eisenhower
* Gingrich
* Goldwater
* Harding
* Hamilton
* Helms
* Hoover (Herbert)
* Huckabee
* Johnson
* Kissinger
* Lodge
* Luce
* Madison
* McCain
* McCarthy (Joseph)
* McCarthy (Kevin)
* McConnell
* McKinley
* Meese
* Nixon
* Palin
* Paul (Rand)
* Paul (Ron)
* Pence
* Pierce
* Randolph
* Reagan
* Romney
* Rubio
* Rumsfeld
* Ryan
* Sessions
* Sherman
* Taft (Robert)
* Taft (William)
* Thurmond
* Trump
* Vance
* Wallace
* Wolfowitz

Jurists

* Alito
* Barrett
* Bork
* Burger
* Colson
* Field
* Frelinghuysen
* Fuller
* George
* Goldsmith
* Gorsuch
* Harlan
* Kavanaugh
* Kennedy
* Luttig
* O'Connor
* Parker
* Rehnquist
* Roberts (John)
* Sanford
* Scalia
* Sessions
* Sutherland
* Taft (William)
* Thomas (Clarence)
* Whittaker

Commentators

* Beck
* Bongino
* Breitbart
* Buchanan (Pat)
* Buckley
* Caldwell
* Carlson
* Cass
* Chodorov
* Coulter
* D'Souza
* Derbyshire
* Dreher
* Elder
* Goldberg
* Grant
* Griffin
* Van den Haag
* Hannity
* Hart
* Herberg
* Hoover (Margaret)
* Ingraham
* Jones
* Kelly
* Knowles
* Krauthammer
* Lahren
* Levin
* Limbaugh
* Mac Donald
* Neuhaus
* Ngo
* North
* Novak
* O'Reilly
* Owens
* Podhoretz
* Pool
* Portnoy
* Possony
* Prager
* Robertson
* Shapiro
* Shlaes
* Sullivan
* Walsh
* Watters
* Weyl
* Will
* Wintrich
* Woods

Activists

* Abramoff
* Agostinelli
* Andreessen
* Atwater
* Bannon
* Bennett
* Bezmenov
* Bozell
* Cohn
* Dans
* Dobson
* Drudge
* Falwell
* Feulner
* Flynn
* Gabriel
* Hegseth
* Horowitz
* Kirk
* Krikorian
* Kristol
* LaHaye
* Lindell
* Lindbergh
* Leo
* McEntee
* Mercer (Rebekah)
* Mercer (Robert)
* Miller
* Murdoch
* Musk
* political views
* O'Keefe
* Park
* Phillips
* Posobiec
* Powell
* Raichik
* Reed
* Regnery
* Roberts (Kevin)
* Rove
* Rufo
* Scaife
* Schlafly (Andrew)
* Schlafly (Phyllis)
* Stone
* Thiel
* Thomas (Ginni)
* Weyrich
* Wiles
* Wood

Literature

* The Federalist Papers (1788)
* Democracy in America (1835–1840)
* Notes on Democracy (1926)
* I'll Take My Stand (1930)
* Our Enemy, the State (1935)
* The Managerial Revolution (1941)
* Ideas Have Consequences (1948)
* God and Man at Yale (1951)
* The Conservative Mind (1953)
* The Conscience of a Conservative (1960)
* A Choice Not an Echo (1964)
* A Conflict of Visions (1987)
* The Closing of the American Mind (1987)
* The Death of the West (2001)
* Hillbilly Elegy (2016)
* The Benedict Option (2017)
* Why Liberalism Failed (2018)
* The Age of Entitlement (2020)

Parties

Active

* American Party
* American Independent Party
* Conservative Party
* NY state
* Constitution Party
* Republican Party

Defunct

* Anti-Masonic Party
* Constitutional Union Party
* Democratic Party (historically, factions)
* Boll weevils
* Bourbon Democrats
* Conservative Democrats
* Dixiecrats
* Reagan Democrats
* Southern Democrats
* Rhode Island Suffrage Party
* Federalist Party
* National Republican Party
* Native American Party
* Whig Party

Think tanks

* Acton Institute
* AdTI
* AEI
* AFP
* CSP
* CfNI
* Claremont Institute
* CEI
* CSPC
* EPPC
* FRI
* Gatestone Institute
* Heartland Institute
* The Heritage Foundation
* Heritage Action
* Mandate for Leadership
* Project Esther
* Project 2025
* Hoover Institution
* Hudson Institute
* ISI
* James Madison Program
* Leadership Institute
* Manhattan Institute
* Mises Institute
* PRI
* PNAC (Defunct)
* Ripon Society
* R Street Institute
* Rockford Institute
* SPN
* Sutherland Institute
* Tax Foundation
* Witherspoon Institute

Media

Newspapers

* Chicago Tribune
* The Epoch Times
* New Hampshire Union Leader
* The Jewish Voice
* The New York Observer
* New York Post
* The Remnant
* The Wall Street Journal (editorial board)
* The Washington Times

Journals

* American Affairs
* The American Conservative
* The American Spectator
* American Thinker
* City Journal
* Claremont Review of Books
* Commentary
* Compact
* Chronicles
* The Dispatch
* First Things
* The Imaginative Conservative
* Jewish World Review
* Modern Age
* National Affairs
* The National Interest
* National Review
* The New American
* The New Atlantis
* The New Criterion
* Policy Review (defunct)
* Public Discourse
* Southern Partisan
* Spectator USA
* Tablet
* Taki's Magazine
* Telos
* Washington Examiner
* The Weekly Standard (defunct)

TV channels

* CBN
* Fox Business
* Fox News
* Newsmax TV
* One America News Network
* Real America's Voice
* VOZ

Websites

* 1819 News
* Babylon Bee
* Breitbart News
* The Bulwark
* Campus Reform
* The Center Square
* Conservative Review
* Daily Caller
* Daily Signal
* Daily Wire
* Discover the Networks
* The Federalist
* FrontPage Magazine
* Front Porch Republic
* Gateway Pundit
* Hot Air
* Human Events
* Independent Journal Review
* InfoWars
* Jihad Watch
* LifeZette
* NewsBusters
* PJ Media
* Rare
* RedState
* The Dispatch
* Townhall
* Twitchy
* Washington Examiner
* The Washington Free Beacon
* The Western Journal
* WorldNetDaily

Other

* Blaze Media
* Encounter Books
* Evie Magazine
* The First
* Imprimis
* The Political Cesspool
* Passage Publishing
* PragerU
* RealClearPolitics
* Red Scare
* Regnery Publishing
* RSBN
* The Rubin Report
* Sinclair Broadcast Group

Other organizations

Congressional caucuses

* Second Amendment Caucus
* RSC
* Liberty Caucus
* Freedom Caucus
* Republican Main Street Partnership
* Republican Governance Group
* Blue Dog Coalition

Economics

* ATR
* Club for Growth
* FreedomWorks (defunct)
* NFIB
* NTU
* Tea Party Patriots
* USCC

Gun rights

* GOA
* NAGR
* NRA

Identity politics

* ACT!
* CWA
* Council of Conservative Citizens
* GAG
* IWF
* LCR
* Moms for Liberty

Nativist

* CIS
* FAIR
* Immigration Restriction League
* NumbersUSA
* Patriot Prayer
* Proud Boys
* Oath Keepers
* Three Percenters

Religion

* ADF
* Court cases
* ACLJ
* AFA
* The American TFP
* Chalcedon Foundation
* CCA
* Christian Voice
* Eagle Forum
* FCR
* The Fellowship
* FFC
* Focus on the Family
* Foundation for Moral Law
* Liberty Counsel
* Moral Majority (defunct)
* NOM
* NRLC
* PTMC
* Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America
* Thomas More Law Center

Watchdog groups

* AIM
* Econ Journal Watch
* Franklin News Foundation
* JW
* MRC
* O'Keefe Media Group
* Project Veritas

Youth/student groups

* NJC
* TPUSA
* Young Americans for Freedom
* Young America's Foundation
* YAL

Social media

* Gab
* Gettr
* Parler
* The Right Stuff

Miscellaneous

* The 85 Fund
* AHI
* ACU
* AFPAC
* Bradley Foundation
* TCC
* CNP
* CPAC
* Hillsdale College
* IFF
* JBS
* John M. Olin Foundation (defunct)
* Liberty Fund
* LU
* NAS
* Philadelphia Society
* Regent University
* Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal
* TPPF

Other

* AFL
* Atlas Network
* CN
* ConservAmerica
* Donors Trust
* FedSoc
* NCPAC
* PJI
* Turning Point Action
* SACR
* YRNF
* Ziklag

Movements

* Asian and Pacific Islander
* Black
* Christian right
* Reconstructionism
* Classical education movement
* Paideia
* Dark Enlightenment
* Election denial movement
* 2020 election disputes
* Female
* Green
* Hispanic and Latino
* LGBTQ
* Libertarian republicans
* Militia movement
* Monarchism
* Mormon
* White Horse Prophecy
* Theodemocracy
* New Apostolic Reformation
* Parental rights movement
* Fathers' rights
* Patriot movement
* Christian
* Radical right
* Reactionary feminism
* Right-libertarianism
* Paleolibertarianism
* Secessionism
* Neo-Confederates
* in Texas
* Trumpism
* Never Trump

Related

* Barstool conservatism
* Bibliography of US conservatism
* Conservative talk radio
* GOP factions
* List of American conservatives
* NatCon
* Timeline of modern American conservatism

* Conservatism portal
* United States portal

* v
* t
* e

See also: Southern Democrats, Solid South, and Southern strategy

Historian Nancy MacLean writes that "since the 1960s the party of Lincoln has become the haven of neo-Confederacy. Having long prided itself on saving the Union, the Republican Party has become home to those who lionize the slaveholding South and romanticize the Jim Crow South". According to MacClean, this embrace of neo-Confederate views is not exclusively about race, but it is related to a pragmatic political realization that the "retrospective romanticization of the Old South" and secession presented many possible themes that could be used as conservatives attempted to reverse the national changes initiated by the New Deal.[46]

According to MacLean, after the defeat of Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election and the successes of the civil rights movement, conservative leaders nationally distanced themselves from racial issues, but they continued to support a "color-blind" version of neo-Confederatism. She writes that "even into the twenty-first century mainstream conservative Republican politicians continued to associate themselves with issues, symbols, and organizations inspired by the neo-Confederate Right".[47]

Two prominent neo-Confederates—Walter Donald Kennedy and Al Benson—published the book Red Republicans and Lincoln's Marxists: Marxism in the Civil War, in which they argue that Lincoln and the Republican Party were influenced by Marxism.[48]

## Criticism

[edit]

George Ewert, director of the Museum of Mobile, wrote a review of the film Gods and Generals in which he pointed out that the film was "part of a growing movement that seeks to rewrite the history of the American South, downplaying slavery and the economic system that it sustained". His review enraged local neo-Confederate activists.[49]

## Neo-Confederate groups

[edit]

See also: List of Ku Klux Klan organizations

* Abbeville Institute
* Council of Conservative Citizens
* Dixiecrats (States' Rights Democratic Party) (defunct)
* Flaggers (movement)
* Ku Klux Klan
* League of the South
* Southern Party (division of the League of the South)
* Sons of Confederate Veterans
* Southern Historical Society (defunct)
* United Daughters of the Confederacy
* Military Order of the Stars and Bars

## See also

[edit]

* American Civil War portal

* Culture of the Southern United States
* Far-right politics#United States
* Far-right subcultures
* History of the Southern United States
* List of organizations designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as hate groups
* List of white nationalist organizations
* Politics of the Southern United States
* Racism against African Americans

## References

[edit]

Notes

1. ^ McPherson, James M. "Long-Legged Yankee Lies: The Southern Textbook Crusade," from The Memory of the Civil War in American Culture, editors, Alice Fahs and Joan Waugh. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004)64-78. Reference to neo-Confederate on page 76. McPherson's discussion on page 68.
2. ^ MacLean, Nancy, "Neo-Confederacy against the New Deal: The Regional Romance of the Modern American Right," paper presented at conference entitled "The End of Southern History? Reintegrating the Modern South and the Nation." (Atlanta: Emory University, 2006).
3. ^ Quinn, Richard, "Partisan View," Southern Partisan, 8.1 (1988);5.
4. ^ Levy, Leonard W. Review of Americans Interpret Their Civil War by Thomas J. Pressly. The Western Political Quarterly, Vol. 7, No. 3. (Sep. 1954), pp. 523–524
5. ^ Butler, Clayton,"An Interview with Historian Gary Gallagher" https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/interview-historian-gary-gallagher
6. ^ Introduction The Confederate War Gary W. Gallagher (Harvard University Press 1997)
7. ^ Gallagher, Gary W. and Nolan, Alan T. editors. The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History. (2000) p. 1. Gallagher wrote:

"The architects of the Lost Cause acted from various motives. They collectively sought to justify their own actions and allow themselves and other former Confederates to find something positive in all-encompassing failure. They also wanted to provide their children and future generations of white Southerners with a 'correct' narrative of the war."
8. ^ "Home". scv.org. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
9. ^ McPherson pg. 98
10. ^ McPherson pg. 97
11. ^ McPherson pg. 106
12. ^ Blight, David W. Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory. (2001) pg 289
13. ^ Blight, David W. Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory. (2001) pg. 290
14. ^ Hague, Euan; Beirich, Heidi; Sebesta, Edward H. (September 15, 2009). Neo-Confederacy: A Critical Introduction. University of Texas Press. p. 29\. ISBN 978-0-292-77921-1. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
15. ^ Omi, Michael; Winant, Howard (June 20, 2014). Racial Formation in the United States. Routledge. p. 260\. ISBN 978-1-135-12751-0. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
16. ^ a b Gallagher and Nolan pg. 13-14
17. ^ a b White, Steven (August 17, 2017). "Confederate flags and Nazi swastikas together? That's new. Here's what it means". Washington Post. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
18. ^ Fausset, Richard (November 25, 2017). "I Interviewed a White Nationalist and Fascist. What Was I Left With?". The New York Times. Retrieved March 29, 2023.
19. ^ "Deconstructing the symbols and slogans spotted in Charlottesville". Washington Post. August 18, 2017. Retrieved March 29, 2023.
20. ^ Munro, Niall (June 2020). "Neo-Confederates Take Their Stand: Southern Agrarians and the Civil War" (PDF). European Journal of American Culture. 39 (2): 141–162\. doi:10.1386/ejac_00020_1. S2CID 225842730. Retrieved March 29, 2023.
21. ^ Goldfield, David. Still Fighting the Civil War: The American South and Southern History. (2002) pg. 318
22. ^ Southern Poverty Law Center (2000). "Arizona State Professor Brooks D. Simpson Discusses Neo-Confederate Movement". White Lies. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
23. ^ http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=110 Archived July 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine Lincoln Reconstructed
24. ^ W. Loewen, James (July 1, 2015). "Why do people believe myths about the Confederacy? Because our textbooks and monuments are wrong". Washington Post. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
25. ^ Smith, Sam (February 10, 2015). "Black Confederates". www.civilwar.org. Archived from the original on April 14, 2017. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
26. ^ Loewen, James W. and Sebesta, Edward H., The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader, pp.17-19.
27. ^ Levine (2006) p.13
28. ^ http://vastpublicindifference.blogspot.com/2008/05/confederate-monumental-landscape_26.html Confederate Monumental Landscape: Literate Sources
29. ^ Black, William (December 16, 2016). "Confessions of a former neo-Confederate". Vox. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
30. ^ a b c Tabachnick, Rachel (November 22, 2013). "Nullification, Neo-Confederates, and the Revenge of the Old Right | Political Research Associates". Political Research Associates. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
31. ^ a b http://www.dixienet.org/New Site/corebeliefs.shtml Archived July 15, 2009, at the Wayback Machine League of the South Core Beliefs Statement
32. ^ Mrak, Mojmir (1999). Succession of States. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. ISBN 90-411-1145-X.
33. ^ Agostinone-Wilson, Faith (January 1, 2012). Neo-Confederate Ideology & History Textbooks – 1860 to 2010. Brill. p. 293\. ISBN 978-94-6091-912-1. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
34. ^ MacLean (2010) p. 309
35. ^ "David Blight Reviews Bruce Levine's". March 5, 2006.
36. ^ http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_10cc.htm The Ten Commandments
37. ^ Neo-Confederacy: A Critical Introduction, p. 53, Euan Hague, Heidi Beirich, Edward H. Sebesta, University of Texas
38. ^ http://gis.depaul.edu/ehague/Articles/PUBLISHED CRAS ARTICLE.pdf Archived May 30, 2009, at the Wayback Machine "The US Civil War As A Theological War: Confederate Christian Nationalism and the League of the South," in Canadian Review of American Studies, Vol. 32 No. 3, pp. 253-284.
39. ^ http://dixienet.org/New Site/faq.shtml Archived July 17, 2009, at the Wayback Machine Frequently Asked Questions about the League of the South
40. ^ Feller (2004) p. 186. Feller differentiates between Hummel and the other two. He writes (p.190), "After this soapbox tirade [referring to DiLorenzo's "The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War" and Adams' "When in the Course of Human Events: Arguing the Case for Southern Secession"], Jeffrey Hummel's "Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men" is a breath of fresh air. Hummel is a real historian."
41. ^ a b "Thomas Woods and His Critics by Jeffrey Rogers Hummel". www.la-articles.org.uk.
42. ^ Change of Subject: Lincoln didn't own slaves, but people keep asking anyway. Find out why http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2008/02/lincoln.html
43. ^ "The Ideologues". Southern Poverty Law Center. December 21, 2004. Archived from the original on April 11, 2017. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
44. ^ Beauchamp, Zack (July 11, 2013). "Why Libertarians Will Never Shake Their Neo-Confederate Ties". ThinkProgress. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
45. ^ "Libertarians and the Confederacy". Libertarianism.org. August 14, 2013. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
46. ^ MacLean (2010) pp. 308-309
47. ^ MacLean (2010) pp. 320-321
48. ^ Swanson, Kevin (August 8, 2014). "Red Tyrant Abraham Lincoln Introduced Communism To America | Right Wing Watch". Right Wing Watch. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
49. ^ "Flap Over Alabama Historian's Essay Roils City". Southern Poverty Law Center. December 31, 2003. Retrieved November 29, 2022.

Bibliography

* Blight, David W. Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory. (2001) ISBN 0-674-00332-2.
* Feller, Daniel. "Libertarians in the Attic, or a Tale of Two Narratives". Reviews in American History 32.2 (2004) 184–195.
* Gallagher, Gary W. and Nolan, Alan T. editors. The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History. (2000) ISBN 0-253-33822-0.
* Goldfield, David. Still Fighting the Civil War: The American South and Southern History. (2002) ISBN 0-8071-2758-2.
* Hague, Euan; Beirich, Heidi; Sebesta, Edward H., eds. (2008). Neo-Confederacy: A Critical Introduction. University of Texas Press. pp. 284–285\. ISBN 978-0-2927-7921-1.
* Kennedy, Walter Donald, and Benson Jr., Al, Red Republicans and Lincoln's Marxists: Marxism in the Civil War (2009) ISBN 0-595-89021-0.
* Levine, Bruce. Confederate Emancipation: Southern Plans to Free and Arm Slaves During the Civil War. (2006) ISBN 978-0-19-514762-9.
* Levy, Leonard W. Review of Americans Interpret Their Civil War by Thomas J. Pressly. The Western Political Quarterly, Vol. 7, No. 3. (Sep. 1954), pp. 523–524.
* MacLean, Nancy. "Neo-Confederacy versus the New Deal: The Regional Utopia of the Modern American Right" in The Myth of Southern Exceptionalism. (2010) edited by Lassiter, Matthew W. and Crespino, Joseph.
* McPherson, James M. This Mighty Scourge: Perspectives on the Civil War. (2007) ISBN 978-0-19-531366-6.

Further reading

* Cox, Karen L. Dixie's Daughters: the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Preservation of Confederate Culture (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2003. Reissue with new intro 2019).
* Denson, John V. A Century of War: Lincoln, Wilson, and Roosevelt.
* Fredrickson, Kari. The Dixiecrat Revolt and the End of the Solid South, 1932-1968. (Chapel Hill, Univ. of North Carolina Press, 2001). Forerunners of the modern neo-Confederate movement.
* Gallagher, Gary W. The Confederate War. (Harvard University Press, 1999).
* McMillen, Neil R. The Citizens' Councils: Organized Resistance to the Second Reconstruction, 1954-64. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1971). Forerunners of the Council of Conservative Citizens.
* Murphy, Paul V. The Rebuke of History: The Southern Agrarians and American Conservative Thought. (Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 2001). This is an important book to understand the forerunners of the modern neo-Confederate movement.
* New York Times: Member's Racist Ties Split Confederate Legacy Group.
* Southern Exposure: Bush's "Close Ties" To Neo-Confederate Groups Questioned.
* SPLC Intelligence Report: The Neo-Confederates September 2000.
* Hague, Euan. SPLC Hatewatch Report: The Neo-Confederate Movement January 2010.

Wikiquote has quotations related to American Civil War.

* v
* t
* e

Neo-Confederates

Themes|

* Display of the Confederate battle flag
* Flaggers
* Lost Cause of the Confederacy
* Secession

Key people|

* E. Merton Coulter
* Thomas Dixon Jr.
* Thomas Fleming
* Michael Hill
* Jack Kershaw
* Frank Lawrence Owsley
* Donald Livingston
* Michael Peroutka
* Edith D. Pope
* Laura Martin Rose
* Mildred Lewis Rutherford
* Ellison D. Smith
* Robert Wilkie
* Clyde N. Wilson

Active organizations|

* League of the South
* Military Order of the Stars and Bars
* Sons of Confederate Veterans
* Southern Legal Resource Center
* United Daughters of the Confederacy

Defunct organizations|

* Ku Klux Klan
* Southern Historical Society
* Southern Party
* United Confederate Veterans
* White League

Media|

* Confederate Veteran
* Southern Partisan

Related|

* Confederate Memorial Day
* List of Confederate monuments and memorials

* v
* t
* e

Secession in the United States

Active movements|

* Alaska
* Black
* California
* Cascadia
* Confederate States
* Hawaii
* Lakotah
* Sequoyah
* Puerto Rico
* Texas
* White
* Northwest Territorial Imperative

History|

* Election of 1860 and the Secession Crisis
* South Carolina
* Mississippi
* Louisiana
* Virginia
* Arkansas
* Missouri

Miscellaneous|

* 2012 U.S. state secession petitions
* List of state partition proposals

* v
* t
* e

Political ideologies

* The Establishment
* Anti
* Hardline
* Moderate
* Political spectrum
* Far-left
* Left-wing
* Centre-left
* Centrism
* Centre-right
* Right-wing
* Far-right
* Radical
* Reactionary
* Revolutionary

* Accelerationism
* Agrarianism
* Anarchism
* Capitalism
* Christian democracy
* Communalism
* Communism
* Bolshevism
* Marxism-Leninism
* National Bolshevism
* Communitarianism
* Confucianism
* Conservatism
* Constitutionalism
* Corporatism
* Distributism
* Social credit
* Environmentalism
* Familialism
* Fascism
* Nazism
* Third Position
* Feminism
* Fundamentalism
* Green
* Hindutva
* Islamism
* Liberalism
* Libertarianism
* Marxism
* Monarchism
* Royalism
* Nationalism
* Republicanism
* Classical
* Modern
* Social democracy
* Socialism
* Third Way
* Zionism

See also|

* Authoritarianism
* Anti
* Collectivism
* Colonialism
* Culturalism
* Inter
* Mono
* Multi
* Extremism
* Federalism
* Confederalism
* Confederatism
* Globalism
* Ideological repression
* Imperialism
* Individualism
* Internationalism
* Localism
* Masculism
* Militarism
* Nihilism
* Pacifism
* Pluralism
* Populism
* Progressivism
* Reformism
* Regionalism
* Separatism
* Statism
* Syncretism
* Totalitarianism

* v
* t
* e

Alt-right

Ideas|

| Core|

* American Nationalism
* Antifeminism
* Fourteen Words
* Ghost skin
* White ethnostate
* White nationalism
* White supremacy

|

Conspiracy
theories|

* Cultural Marxism
* Eurabia
* George Soros
* Great Replacement
* Homosexual agenda
* Kalergi Plan
* Murder of Seth Rich
* New World Order
* Pizzagate
* White genocide
* Zionist Occupation Government

Related|

* Alt-lite
* Alt-right pipeline
* Boogaloo movement
* Christian Identity
* DezNat
* Identitarian movement
* Incel
* Kinism
* Manosphere
* Men Going Their Own Way
* Neo-Confederates
* Neo-fascism
* Neo-nationalism
* Neo-Nazism
* Nouvelle Droite
* Paleoconservatism
* Paleolibertarianism
* QAnon
* Radical right
* Reactionary
* Dark Enlightenment
* Third Position
* Ultraconservatism

Online
culture|

| Alt-tech|

* 4chan
* /pol/
* 8chan
* BitChute
* Epik
* Gab
* Gettr
* Minds
* Parler
* Rumble
* Terrorgram
* Truth Social
* Voat (defunct)

|

Websites|

* American Renaissance
* Breitbart News
* The Daily Stormer
* Infowars
* Kingdom Identity Ministries
* Kuruc.info
* Metapedia
* Occidental Observer
* The Occidental Quarterly
* Rebel News
* Red Ice
* Reddit (r/The_Donald)
* The Right Stuff
* StoneToss
* Stormfront
* TruNews
* Vanguard News Network
* VDARE
* WorldNetDaily

Memes|

* "Basket of deplorables"
* "Beta male"
* "Cuckservative"
* Fashwave
* Happy Merchant
* "It's okay to be white"
* Moon Man
* NPC
* OK gesture
* "Owning the libs"
* Pepe the Frog
* "Red pill and blue pill"
* Right Wing Death Squad
* "Remove Kebab"
* "Shadilay"
* "Snowflake"
* "Social justice warrior"
* Trash Doves
* Triple parentheses
* Undercut

Groups|

* AltRight Corporation
* American Freedom Party
* Anti-Communist Action
* The Base
* Deplorable Pride
* Diagolon
* Groypers
* Hundred-Handers
* Identity Evropa (defunct)
* Les Identitaires
* National Policy Institute
* Patriot Front
* Patriot Prayer
* Proud Boys
* Rise Above Movement
* Traditionalist Worker Party (defunct)
* Vanguard America
* Washington Summit Publishers

Events|

| Incidents|

* Berkeley protests
* Comicsgate
* DeploraBall
* End Domestic Terrorism rally
* Gamergate
* Macron e-mail leaks
* Unite the Right rally
* Unite the Right 2

|

Attacks|

* Assault of DeAndre Harris
* Charlottesville car attack
* Christchurch mosque shootings
* Murder of Blaze Bernstein
* Murder of Timothy Caughman
* Pittsburgh synagogue shooting
* Portland train attack

Lists|

* Timeline of activities involving the Proud Boys

People|

* James Allsup
* Andrew Anglin
* Andrew "weev" Auernheimer
* Steve Bannon
* Theodore "Vox Day" Beale
* Carl "Sargon of Akkad" Benjamin
* Owen Benjamin
* Peter Brimelow
* Christopher Cantwell
* Mike Cernovich
* Alain de Benoist
* John Derbyshire
* Jack Donovan
* David Duke
* Mike Enoch
* Guillaume Faye
* Haakon Forwald
* Daniel Friberg
* Nick Fuentes
* Jean-François Gariépy
* Ben Garrison
* Austin "Augustus Sol Invictus" Gillespie
* Tim "Baked Alaska" Gionet
* Jim Goad
* Faith Goldy
* Paul Gottfried
* Matthew Heimbach
* Michael A. Hoffman II
* Sam Hyde
* Dillon Irizarry
* Charles C. Johnson
* Greg Johnson
* William Daniel Johnson
* Alex Jones
* Jason Jorjani
* Ruuben Kaalep
* Tom Kawcyznski
* Jason Kessler
* Douglas Murray
* Steve King
* Elliott Kline
* Nick Land
* Lana Lokteff
* Laura Loomer
* Norman Lowell
* Kevin MacDonald
* Jeremy MacKenzie
* Stephen McNallen
* Merlin Miller
* Stephen Miller
* Stefan Molyneux
* Paul Nehlen
* Paul "GypsyCrusader" Nicholas Miller
* Ethan Nordean
* Jack Posobiec
* Bronze Age Pervert
* Paul Ray Ramsey
* William Regnery II
* Colin "Millennial Woes" Robertson
* Thomas Rousseau
* Steve Sailer
* Martin Sellner
* Lauren Southern
* Richard B. Spencer
* Brett Stevens
* Jared Taylor
* Tila Tequila
* Daryush "Roosh V" Valizadeh
* Paul Joseph Watson
* Lucian Wintrich
* Curtis Yarvin
* Milo Yiannopoulos

Opposition
and
criticism|

| People|

* Antifa
* Steven "Destiny" Bonnell II
* Ian "Vaush" Kochinski
* Harry "Hbomberguy" Brewis
* Ian "Innuendo Studios" Danskin
* Robert Evans
* Emily Gorcenski
* Daryle Lamont Jenkins
* Angela Nagle
* David Neiwert
* Shaun
* Abigail "Philosophy Tube" Thorn
* Natalie "ContraPoints" Wynn
* Donna Zuckerberg

|

Media|

* Alt-America
* Angry Goy II
* Culture Warlords
* Devil's Bargain
* Feels Good Man
* I Don't Speak German
* It Came from Something Awful
* Kill All Normies
* Knowledge Fight
* White Right: Meeting the Enemy

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template