According to this theory, the North won because the South could not manufacture goods for its needs, because it did not possess ships to bring in goods from abroad, and because it could not build a navy to defend its ports.

Today it is clear that the South never had a chance to win, so long as the will to conquer was firm in the North.

As soon as the War was over, the demand for greater industrial development made itself felt and gained in strength when Reconstruction came; but during that period the people had to devote all their energies to living day by day, hoping for strength to endure.
When property was being confiscated under the forms of law, only to be squandered by irresponsible legislators, there was little incentive to remake the industrial system, and the ventures of the Reconstruction government into industrial affairs were not encouraging.

Farm property in the South--and little was left except farm property after the War--depreciated in value enormously in the decade following 1860.
Grimly, sullenly, the white man of the South fought again to secure domination, this time, however, of his own section only and not of the nation.

When this had been achieved, a large portion of the population was overcome by that deadly apathy so often remarked by travelers who ventured to visit the land as they would have visited Africa.