Tenants And Sharecroppers

Tenants and Sharecroppers falls under the AP Theme Work, Exchange, and Technology. Even with the seeds of industry in place, the South remained rooted in farming (puns intended). The crop output was largely just a few single types of cash crops to turn a quick profit. Farms were increasingly run by off site owners and the farmers being merely tenants who fell into debt by taking out money on (possibly uncertain) future harvests. Sharecroppers usually had nothing and were only working with equipment given to them by the landowners who took large cuts of the harvest, leaving them with almost no personal income. Backcountry residents were forced into producing cash crops for easy money instead of the traditional food items. The cause for tenants
and sharecroppers was the lack of opportunities for profit on harvests and the growth of only cash crops. The decimated economy of the South caused landlords to look for cheap labor, which could be found in these two systems. The effect of the tenants and sharecroppers was the decline in output of food product from the South due to the heavy reliance on cash crops. The cycle of poverty and debt the system caused set the stage for later protests in the 1880’s and 90’s. An example of a similar system is that employed by the Russians in 1861 with their freeing of the serfs. They were given land by the government, similar to tenants, and required to work off the debt on the land however their cycle of debt continued. The landlord was the main money maker at the expense of the serfs of tenants who were practically slaves to the debt they perpetually had to work towards paying off. The tenant/sharecropping system was important because, although it put workers into perpetual debt, it played the groundwork for the South’s reconstruction in their agricultural output. As well it highlighted the great division between workers and the landlords leading to protests and demanded change after many years.