Why Were The Radical Republicans Radical?

[Eva Elisabeth]

Liz, this sounds as if the South - irrespective of slavery - grew increasingly inferior to the North. But if that was the case and the main alternative to agriculture for people to survive was military service, didn't this weaken the South even more (the military servants had to be payed, but didn't "produce" anything of equivalent economic value)? And in this case, wasn't the war condemned to be a lost case for the Southeners from the beginning?