29/07/2025
With the Southern Economy reduced to almost nothing after the Civil War, several problems had to be solved in order to get the South back up on its feet. Whyte landowners looked to reestablish a labor force, while free backs sought new economic independence. The solution to both these problems resulted in several new economic systems, including the share cropping systems.
Sharecropping was a common system during the Reconstruction Era. Landless poor whites and freedmen worked the on land owned landowner. The landowner supplied all of necessary items to grow the crops in return for a share of the harvest. With limited resources, sharecroppers agreed to farm a certain area of land in exchange for a share of the crops they raised. The exact amount of crops the sharecropper gave over to the landowner depended on the agreement made between them.
