[faireturn]

With as many assets as the Confederacy possessed, how could the South possibly have lost?

They lost because in the end, their 'cause', ~slavery~, was not worth their sacrifice.

-- a Virginia soldier was heard to say,
"They never whipped us, Sir, unless they were four to one. If we had anything like a fair chance, or less disparity of numbers, we should have won our Cause and established our independence."

The southern men had independence before the war [but they insisted upon their 'right to own slaves'] and they knew they would have it after. -- And at some point in the war, most southern men privately came to the conclusion that owning slaves was not worth a terrible war..
They lost their 'cause' with that realization, and with it they lost the will to prolong the war.

That long-ago Virginia veteran expressed the feelings of the entire South: With as many assets as the Confederacy possessed, how could the South possibly have lost?
The South also had a dedicated and devoted population that believed passionately in the righteousness of their Cause.

Initially, of course. But individuals slowly lost their will to fight as they realized the 'lost cause' aspect of their rebellion. The cause of slavery was simply not worth dying for.

The author in a way acknowledges this point in his reason #5:

The Confederate Constitution put too much emphasis on individual and states rights and did not stress the responsibilities of the individual or the state to the federal government.

-- Nor did it stress the principles behind that government. In effect, the CSA was asking men to die for a planters 'right' to own slaves.

[teldon30]

good post....thinking.

[Fenris6]

"Nor did it stress the principles behind that government. In effect, the CSA was asking men to die for a planters 'right' to own slaves."

I thought Slavery wasn't a major issue of the war until midway through when that pesky Moral Majority [Northern Repub Abolistionists?] gained steam? Did I misunderstand that?

[trek]

You must be the product of a government school.

Slavery was not the cause of the war. Lincoln himself said as much. The Emancipation Proclamation was a tactic employed deep into the war by Lincoln to rally support for the war.

Tariffs that enriched Northern merchants at the expense of Southerners galvanized opposition to the Union much more than the right of rich plantation owners to hold slaves.