Reconstruction: Sharecropping In The United States

During reconstruction, blacks were no longer forced to work as slaves however they still needed to work to support themselves and their families. Not many blacks had skills outside of farming so most worked the lands of the wealthy white landowners but not as slaves. They had the right to do whatever they wanted and the landowners could do nothing about it. Wealthy landowners still needed work hands and blacks needed an income so former slaveholders established the sharecropping system. Land owned by a white person would be farmed by black families and they shared the crop yield. This often resulted in the white person taking more than their share and the black families struggled to support themselves. Sharecropping did little to help economic advancement for blacks and was a way the white man could prevent blacks from making enough money

     After the devastation left from the Civil War, many field owners looked for new ways to replace their former slaves with field hands for farming and production use. From this need for new field hands came sharecroppers, a “response to the destitution and disorganized” agricultural results of the Civil War (Wilson 29). Sharecropping is the working of a piece of land by a tenant in exchange for a portion of the crops that they bring in for their landowners. These farmhands provided their labor, while the landowners provided living accommodations for the worker and his family, along with tools, seeds, fertilizers, and a portion of the crops that they had harvested that season. A sharecropper had “no entitlement

After the slaves were freed in 1863, the South had to make changes to supply labor for the farming. Many shady practices by the white man occurred because of this. Sharecropping and crop liens were developed to keep the black man somewhat under their control. Since freed slaves had no money and no place to live, land holders would allow a tenant to live on their property and worked the land in exchange for a share of the crop produced, also known as sharecropping. The crop lien system was a developed to allow farmers to receive goods such as food, supplies, and seeds to be paid for after the crop was produced. This kept the black man and poor white farmers in a constant form of debt.

Between the late 1800s and mid-1900s, to help procure land, supplies, and workers, farmers turned to sharecropping. In mostly all instances of sharecropping the croppers would get a percentage of the crops they worked while the rest would go to the landowner. In most situations the croppers got a smaller percentage than the landowners. In this certain contract between a landowner and the Grimes family in North Carolina, there were some unfair condition. One of the unfair conditions was the results of not feeding his team. The cropper was required to feed his team every day in the morning, noon, and night, and if he didn’t he must pay the landowner five cents. The workers were also required to repair the fence if it was blown over or broken

Reconstruction (1867-1877) under Congress was a fast tightening of a noose in the South. Congress no longer trusted Andrew Johnson’s loose plan for Reconstruction, so they began closing in on their plans. Radical Republicans made many lasting impacts in this period. Under Congress, the 14th and 15th Amendment was created, guaranteeing rights to African Americans. A newly created Freedmen’s Bureau help create many schools and colleges, lasting up to modern times. African Americans held power in office, although they were quickly brought down by the Ku Klux Klan’s terrorism. The main path Reconstruction took was based on the government’s plans. There

The end of civil war in the United States of America brought about many problems, in particular for the South. Some of the problems were political, economic decay and social disorder. The war destroyed the plantations and crops thus causing many to starve to death while others became homeless. The reconstruction became the only hope for the people. Radical reconstruction began in 1867, which enabled the freed black men to have a voice in the government. Before the civil war, the Southern state had enacted laws that suppressed all African American. This fact angered many people from the North who were seeking to end slavery. Therefore, during the reconstruction era, the black people wanted their voices to be heard.

The period from 1865 to 1877, commonly referred to as Reconstruction, saw a culmination of effects from the Civil War. During this time, America saw the freedom of slaves, blacks in office, and voting rights for all men regardless of color. However, Reconstruction was not perfect. During Andrew Johnson’s presidency, many conflicts arose between the viewpoints of Congress and Johnson regarding Reconstruction and the future of ex-slaves. Johnson’s views represented most of the democratic South’s, while the views of Congress represented the North.

The years between 1860 and 1877 are filled with many developments in the views of the American people. The North consisted of free states based on an industrial economy while the South based its agricultural economy on the enslavement of colored males and females. The two sections of America had two very different views on how the United States should become a world power. Constitutional developments such as secession of the Southern states in 1860, the Emancipation Proclamation, and other acts and amendments contributed to more discontent throughout the country. Developments such as the Black Codes, Freedmen's Bureau, and the creation of the Ku Klux Klan contributed to the Social aspect of the argument. Problems like these had been amounting

Reconstruction affected American society through the creation of Anti- African American and Republican hate groups, economically due to the rise of sharecropping, and politically when it came to freedmen holding office. Union’s pursuit for social reform in the South involved the passing of new amendments guaranteeing freedom for blacks and the Freedmen’s Bureau, which caused the upheaval of opposition for black rights. The Fourteenth Amendment gave African Americans equal rights and the creation of the Freedmen's Bureau aimed to educate freedmen. Many Southerners were infuriated with the rights former slaves were gaining, and the Ku Klux Klan arose from the hatred. Reconstruction also changed the nation’s economy with the abolishment of slavery, and it prompted the granting of land to freedmen, which turned into the development of sharecropping. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery and land was given to the former slaves. Sharecropping soon became an essential part of the Southern economy. Reconstruction affected Southern politics by the passing of amendments and military power, but it triggered aggression toward African American leaders and voters, which eventually lead to the discriminative South. The Fifteenth Amendment gave African American the right to vote, but Southern government issued literacy and property qualifications for voter in hopes of blocking black vote. In the 1876 election, blacks were prohibited from voting in the south with armed force. The Presidency was decided after Rutherford B. Hayes promised to remove federal troops from the South. This move guaranteed white supremacy in the South for the coming years. Due to the aforementioned, Reconstruction undoubtedly changed

The Civil War has ended. The Union won. Slavery was abolished. Reconstruction was just getting started. But not everyone was happy with what was happening with reconstruction or slavery. What were the slaves going to do? They had nothing. Some things that caused whites and blacks trouble was the black codes being made, voting troubles because of the Ku Klux Klan, and the Election of 1874.

After the civil war ended in 1865, the north declared the slaves to be free in the South. This took effect on December 18, 1865. The only thing was, slaves did not know how to read or write. This cased a decreases in the economy of the South. The white southerners took advantage to this and started sharecropping. Sharecropping is when the landowners proved the land, tools, home, and supplies. The African Americans had to work on the land though. African Americans had to pay almost like a rent, but a fine to live there. If the crops did not grow one year you got behind and had to work longer on the land. Also the place where you bought the seed were most likely owned by our landowner. The landowner would do this to keep you in debt, so you are

infrastructure, education, and voting rights) by 1896, the progress of republican policies was undermined and a pre-war copy of the Old South was reconstructed. Officially, the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments provided black men with equal rights and protections but these provisions were not enforced. While in 1865, the radical congressmen may have been completely devoted to the cause of advancing African American rights, their focus shifted by 1877. Some were tempted by financial gain and wrapped up in political scandals, others were devoted to preserving Constitutional principles such as property rights and self-governance while conveniently forgetting about the principle of “all men are created equal”. By 1896, the government had sided with white supremacists and blacks were left homeless and impoverished with the task of emancipating themselves from the shackles of systematic oppression based on the color of their skin. This political struggle between African Americans, their “supporters”, and oppressors who had been brainwashed after years of indoctrination, would carry into the 20th and 21st

Slavery still existed, and uprisings continued to occur. Much was done at an attempt to stop slavery, yet nothing was accomplished or changed; people of color were continuously hung & jailed (Document G). Other social disagreements included the relations of the North and South. Each part of the U.S stood opposed on many topics, due to the populations being placed so far apart from each other (Document E). For example, the south believed that the many tariffs were written in favor to those in the north. There were various differences in opinions in the societies of certain areas of the U.S. Also during this time, a land boom became prominent in the South and West as people continued to explore lands; expansion also led to unbalanced

Election of 1828 is what started it all. Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams was running for President, and Andrew Jackson won by an overwhelming majority. Jackson established the Spoil System. The Spoil System awarded Jackson’s friends and supporters public offices. During the 1830’s, abolitionist began to rise, and people began to revolt, for example, William Garrison wrote the “Liberator”, and Nat Turner killed his master and 60 more people. Money was a huge issue because tariffs were raised, and Jackson destroyed the National Banks, which caused the Panic of 1837. The big issue during the 1850’s was the decision if slavery should expand into the new territory that America had gained from the Mexican War. The documents support the explanation

The development of sharecropping was associated with the endless debt cycles that afflicted the entire South well into the twentieth century. The freedmen endured an economic status likened to peonage, (Bowles, 2011) in addition to having their hopes for political and social equality dashed. The entire South suffered, it was the freedmen who paid the highest price. Ignorant and impoverished, they were easy targets for exploitation by landlords (Bowles, 2011) and merchants alike; moreover, their options were limited by the overt racism in the South, legal restrictions and partiality. Sharecropping resulted from the intense explicit or implicit desire of white Southerners to keep blacks subservient to them. African Americans possessed few skills, and those they did possess related almost exclusively to agricultural production; they owned no property but the clothes on their backs; (Bowles, 2011) Many dreamed of "forty acres and a mule" with which to begin life anew as an integrated part of American society and the proprietor of one's own land. Inside of a year, however, a different reality became obvious to most. By 1868, land confiscation and redistribution was not in the realm of American political possibility. Desperation, familiarity with people and surroundings at the old places coupled with reunion of many lost loved ones, as well as the urgings of