If it wasn't enough having a population that was twice the size of the Souths, the North also had enough food to feed all of its people, including all its armies. It also had many factories that produced much of what those armies needed.

The northern economy

Despite these advantages, the government needed money, and it went to great lengths to get it. It issued a massive bond measure which citizens were asked to buy bonds to fund the war. When this failed the Secretary of the Treasury decided to print paper money. The value of paper money varied from time to time.