How successfully did the governments and economies of the north and south respond to the pressures of war?

Answer 1

For several reasons, the North's response to the Civil War was very successful, while the South's defeat shattered most of the Confederate States economically.

For the North: President Lincoln's Sect of War Edwin Stanton concentrated on equipping and supplying munitions and supplies for the Union troops, which served to build the North's industrial base while providing employment for hundreds of thousands. The railroad system also expanded, and the new trackage and rolling stock used to fuel America's post-war expansion. Equally important is that other than Gettysburg, the Civil War was fought in the South.

The South suffered damage that took generations to overcome. With the war being fought in the Confederate States, the destruction to industry and property was enormous. The advancing Union armies ripped up the railroads, burned factories, and the Union naval blockade kept the South from trading it's cotton to the UK for arms and munitions. The pre-war South was an agricultural economy, based primarily on cotton picked and processed by cheap slave labor, and Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation halted that. Additionally, when the Confederates declared their independence, they did not have a viable currency, which other countries (and finally most Southerners) refused to accept.