Do the historians argue that the South lost the Civil War or that the North won it? Do they argue that the North’s advantages or the South’s weakness were more important? What is their most important evidence to answer that question? In this chapter, historians present arguments from their perspectives as to why they believe the North won the war. Historian, George Frederickson addresses the blue over the gray and sources of success and failure in the Civil War. He emphasizes the North’s advantages providing many plausible explanations of why the North won. He mentions the North’s advantages in manpower, resources, and industrial capacity. The North had an excess of three to one readily available manpower. For every southern industrial worker, the North had a factory or workshop. He highlights, that the North possessed over seventy percent of the nation’s railroad that expanded over 31,000 miles. Frederickson mentions that historians argued that the South “whipped itself” because they did not believe strongly enough in its cause, that the North had a better cause and higher morale. The northerners defined their cause as the preservation of the Union. Frederickson points out that the North had superior leadership and that Lincoln was unquestionably superior to Davis (pages 292-293) …show more content…
He points out that the economic resources and logistical capacity that sustained the North while noting that the South’s defeat was due to the loss of will. He emphasizes the superior leadership of Lincoln’s and his remarkable abilities to widen the edge over Davis as a war leader. In addition, he highlights the Union’s victories at Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga, concluding with the statement that the “northern victory and southern defeat in the war cannot be understood apart from the contingency that hung over every campaign, every battle, every election, every decision during the