Well I was thinking a few days back when I was reading my text book why the Confederacy lost so badly and I thought it was probably because the fact that they had no powerfull central government that had been in existence for a while as did the north. Like when General Lee needed more troops he could really only request it while if Sherman wanted them he could easily get more. And the confederate overnment could not require funds be given to the central government. Do you think these are valid or are they more backburners to the issues of the stronger economy and size of the north?

I think that that is definitely an important aspect of the Confederacy's loss, not to mention an issue that would have plagued them for some time if they had somehow won the war.

However, I think that the North's victory was really due more to the overwhelming manufacturing advantage and significantly larger size of the North. I don't think that the war really went on long enough for the issue of the weak Confederate central government to play a major role in their defeat, because for the most part the states were closely aligned and worked together in their quest to defeat the North. Some internal squabbles are unavoidable, but they knew that they wouldn't last long if they couldn't overcome their differences at least long enough to win the war.