Sharecropper contract, 1867 Critics of sharecropping claimed it was "slavery with a paycheck." To what extent do you agree or disagree with this evaluation? Explain your answer. In what ways did sharecropping perpetuate (continue) the dependence of African Americans on white landowners?

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derlehrman.org/sites/default/files/inline-pdfs/04522.11 FPS_0.pdf
D Page view A Read aloud
V Draw
Immediately after the Civil War, many former slaves established subsistence farms on land that
had been abandoned by fleeing white Southerners. President Andrew Johnson, a Democrat and a
former slaveholder, soon restored this land to its original owners, reducing many freed slaves to
economic dependency on the South's old planter class.
The freedmen, who wanted autonomy and independence, refused to sign contracts that required
gang labor, and sharecropping emerged as a compromise. Landowners divided plantations into
20- to 50-acre plots suitable for farming by a single family. In exchange for the use of land, a
cabin, and supplies, sharecroppers agreed to raise a cash crop and give a portion, usually 50
percent, of the crop to their landlord. Landowners extended credit to sharecroppers to buy goods
and charged high interest rates, sometimes as high as 70 percent a year, creating a system of
economic dependence and poverty.
This 1867 contract between landowner Isham G. Bailey and two freedmen stipulates different
arrangements for each man's family. Both Charles Roberts and Cooper Hughs were to raise
cotton and corn and give more than half of the cotton and two-thirds of the corn they raised to
Bailey, but the Roberts family was to receive 487 pounds of meat to the Hughs family's 550
pounds. Additionally, Charles Roberts and his wife agreed to do housework for an additional $50
a year, while the Hughs family agreed to tend the livestock for no additional compensation.
As a symbol of their newly won independence, freedmen had teams of mules drag their former
slave cabins away from the slave quarters into their own fields. Wives and daughters sharply
reduced their labor in the fields and instead devoted more time to home and childcare. But the
exploitative sharecropping system also helped ensure that the South's economy became almost
entirely dependent on a single crop-cotton-and an increasing number of Southerners, white
and black, were reduced to tenant farming, working as laborers on land they did not own.
ASUS
Transcribed Image Text:derlehrman.org/sites/default/files/inline-pdfs/04522.11 FPS_0.pdf D Page view A Read aloud V Draw Immediately after the Civil War, many former slaves established subsistence farms on land that had been abandoned by fleeing white Southerners. President Andrew Johnson, a Democrat and a former slaveholder, soon restored this land to its original owners, reducing many freed slaves to economic dependency on the South's old planter class. The freedmen, who wanted autonomy and independence, refused to sign contracts that required gang labor, and sharecropping emerged as a compromise. Landowners divided plantations into 20- to 50-acre plots suitable for farming by a single family. In exchange for the use of land, a cabin, and supplies, sharecroppers agreed to raise a cash crop and give a portion, usually 50 percent, of the crop to their landlord. Landowners extended credit to sharecroppers to buy goods and charged high interest rates, sometimes as high as 70 percent a year, creating a system of economic dependence and poverty. This 1867 contract between landowner Isham G. Bailey and two freedmen stipulates different arrangements for each man's family. Both Charles Roberts and Cooper Hughs were to raise cotton and corn and give more than half of the cotton and two-thirds of the corn they raised to Bailey, but the Roberts family was to receive 487 pounds of meat to the Hughs family's 550 pounds. Additionally, Charles Roberts and his wife agreed to do housework for an additional $50 a year, while the Hughs family agreed to tend the livestock for no additional compensation. As a symbol of their newly won independence, freedmen had teams of mules drag their former slave cabins away from the slave quarters into their own fields. Wives and daughters sharply reduced their labor in the fields and instead devoted more time to home and childcare. But the exploitative sharecropping system also helped ensure that the South's economy became almost entirely dependent on a single crop-cotton-and an increasing number of Southerners, white and black, were reduced to tenant farming, working as laborers on land they did not own. ASUS
www.gilderlehrman.org
Sharecropper contract, 1867
E. Critics of sharecropping claimed it was "slavery with a paycheck." To what extent do you
agree or disagree with this evaluation? Explain your answer.
3. In what ways did sharecropping perpetuate (continue) the dependence of African
Americans on white landowners?
ASUS
15
E3
f6
[X
f7
f8
团
f9
f10
f11
f12
&
6
7
8.
9.
Y
5
近
Transcribed Image Text:www.gilderlehrman.org Sharecropper contract, 1867 E. Critics of sharecropping claimed it was "slavery with a paycheck." To what extent do you agree or disagree with this evaluation? Explain your answer. 3. In what ways did sharecropping perpetuate (continue) the dependence of African Americans on white landowners? ASUS 15 E3 f6 [X f7 f8 团 f9 f10 f11 f12 & 6 7 8. 9. Y 5 近
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