How did the relative strengths of both the north and the south contribute to a long war?

North: manpower, resources, railroads. More population to fight, more industrial workers

South:determination to defend the south, cotton industry, top generals, and military tradition

As both the North and the South mobilized for war, the relative strengths and weaknesses of the "free market" and the "slave labor" economic systems became increasingly clear - particularly in their ability to support and sustain a war economy. In hindsight, we can see that the growing divergences between the economies of the North and the South in the immediate prewar years had a decisive influence upon the conduct and outcome of the war itself.