William C. Davis (historian)

"In fact, the state rights defense of secession in 1860–1861 did not really appear in force until after 1865 as builders of the Lost Cause myth sought to distance themselves from slavery."

"The South had a far better chance of preserving its institutions and quirks of culture by remaining a part of a larger nation."

"The secession and the Confederacy's existence were predicated on slavery, on preserving and defending it against containment, as virtually all of its founders from Robert Barnwell Rhett to Jefferson D…"

"Always there had been the complicated factor of the one institution that peculiarly set the South apart from the North, slavery..."

"All peoples part with their myths reluctantly, and historians are at some risk when they try to dismantle those of the Confederacy."

"Myths simply throw roadblocks in the path to enlightenment, and it is from truth that we have the most to learn. One man's truth, however, can be another's myth, and only through dispassionate and dis…"

"Legalistic Southerners tried to view the Constitution as a contract. Unfortunately, that viewpoint breaks down when viewed as a lawyer views a contract. There are very few ways to legally break a cont…"

"Southern states had embraced the Union only insofar as it served to protect their rights to hold property in slaves, and to spread slavery as the nation expanded and the institution itself became inte…"