What were the material advantages enjoyed by the North as the war began and the advantages enjoyed by the South?

You asked about the advantages that the North and the
South possessed at the start of the War to Prevent Southern Independence. Foremost for
the North may be the industrial capacity that it possessed. This was to be a war in
which both sides were to thoroughly organize their industrial capacities to support the
war effort as probably had been done in no previous war. Counting all kinds of factories
from one-man blacksmith shops to huge textile mills and iron foundries, the South had
fewer factory workers than the North had factories, so the North had a tremendous
industrial advantage at the start of the War.

The North had
a lot more free citizens from whom to draw the soldiers to make an
army.

The North had a president who was very determined; he
was also willing to take illegal and unconstitutional actions to prosecute his war: He
raised an army without Congressional approval. He arrested Maryland legislators in the
middle of the night and imprisoned them without charges to prevent them from voting for
secession. He refused to meet with Confederate diplomats who had been sent to Washington
to negotiate payment for U.S. property (such as forts and post offices, including Ft.
Sumter) that were located in the C.S.A. (This was not illegal, but it shows his
determination to have his war even if the other side did not want a war.) He made war on
lawfully elected state governments without a Congressional declaration of war. (Some of
the states of the U.S.A. had joined the Union with the stipulation, expressly made, that
they could withdraw if remaining became more of a burden than an advantage; at that time
it was considered that every state had the right to secede. However, northern
politicians and industrialists were already beginning their plans for empire, so they
would just start by reducing to a colonial status the states that had
seceded.)

The North had a much more extensive system of
railroads and more industry (such as iron mills) for keeping the railroads and trains
repaired.

Most of the sea-going commercial shipping
belonged to Northerners, as did most (or all?) of the ship-building
yards.

The North had in place a long-established
government; the South’s government was newly formed.

Though
it was not a large one, the North already had an army; the South had
none.

Though it was antiquated, the North already had a
navy; the South had none.

As for southern advantages: The
southern soldier was defending his homeland; his homeland was being invaded; his houses
and crops and libraries and schools and courthouses were being burned; he was not
fighting on foreign soil; this was motive to fight
harder.

Between 1859 (when a penchant for forming volunteer
rifle clubs began in Britain and spread to the South) and 1861, many volunteer rifle and
artillery units appeared in the South.

Some of the best
officers in the U.S. army, resigned and joined the C.S.
army.

It is often said that southern men were better
qualified to become soldiers because all of them hunted, thus they knew how to use
firearms, and all of them rode horses, thus they could be good cavalrymen. This
advantage may be made too much of, because there were rural areas of the North,
particularly in the West (Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa) where a good
many men also possessed these skills.