what is sharecropping system

What were the key problems with the sharecropping system?

Advantages and Disadvantages

• Advantages. ◉ The sharecropping system freed the African-Americans from slavery which existed in the past and gave them the freedom to do daily activities.
• Disadvantages. ◉ In case the farm failed to produce high yield, the sharecropper and his family would not make enough money to pay for the rent.
• End of Sharecropping System. ...

What was the causes of the sharecropping system?

What was the cause of sharecropping? After the Civil War, former slaves sought jobs, and planters sought laborers. The absence of cash or an independent credit system led to the creation of sharecropping. The Great Depression, mechanization, and other factors lead sharecropping to fade away in the 1940s.

Why did the sharecropping system start?

The system of sharecropping emerged in the South after the Civil War to address landowners’ lack of labor and capital, and former slaves’ need for land. Sharecroppers would agree to turn over a portion of their crop in exchange for use of the land for the season.

How was sharecropping system was similar to slavery?

sharecropping is a system where the land lord would have them work. How was sharecropping similar to slavery? Southern economy were in disorder, cause conflict Sharecropper were slaves Poor people worked in exchange for food and life mostly in South.

What is sharecropping and why is it bad?

Sharecropping was bad because it increased the amount of debt that poor people owed the plantation owners. Sharecropping was similar to slavery because after a while, the sharecroppers owed so much money to the plantation owners they had to give them all of the money they made from cotton.

What is an example of sharecropping?

For example, a landowner may have a sharecropper farming an irrigated hayfield. The sharecropper uses his own equipment and covers all costs of fuel and fertilizer. The landowner pays the irrigation district assessments and does the irrigating himself.

Why was the sharecropping system created?

Sharecropping developed, then, as a system that theoretically benefited both parties. Landowners could have access to the large labor force necessary to grow cotton, but they did not need to pay these laborers money, a major benefit in a post-war Georgia that was cash poor but land rich.

How was sharecropping a form of slavery?

It was also commonly used, and abused, by plantation owners on plantations to force field slaves to work long hours with physical punishments if they didn't complete their tasks. Because of these complaints, sharecropping was adopted by the Bureau instead of gang-labor.

What is sharecropping in simple terms?

Sharecropping is a system where the landlord/planter allows a tenant to use the land in exchange for a share of the crop. This encouraged tenants to work to produce the biggest harvest that they could, and ensured they would remain tied to the land and unlikely to leave for other opportunities.

How did sharecropping replace slavery?

It essentially replaced the plantation system which had relied on the stolen labor of enslaved people and effectively created a new system of bondage. Under the system of sharecropping, a poor farmer who did not own land would work a plot belonging to a landowner.

Who ended sharecropping?

Owning land was the key to economic independence and autonomy. Instead, as one of the first acts of Reconstruction, President Andrew Johnson ordered all land under federal control to be returned to its previous owners in the summer of 1865.

How did the sharecropping system differ from slavery?

Sharecropping is when anyone lives and/or works on land that is not theirs and in return for their effort they pay no bills. Slaves pretty much did the same thing accept for the fact that they were the property of the land owner, without the choice of weather they wanted to work or not.

When did sharecropping happen?

Sharecropping became popular after the Civil War's end in 1865 when landowners no longer had slaves and there were millions of freed slaves looking for work. In many cases, former masters turned to their former slaves and offered them jobs in exchange for a portion of the crop.

How did sharecropping lead to poverty?

Through sharecropping, white landowners hoarded the profits of Black workers' agricultural labor, trapping them in poverty and debt for generations. Black people who challenged this system of domination faced threats, violence, and even murder.

What are the advantages of sharecropping over slavery?

For laborers, sharecropping eliminated the pain and humiliation of gang labor and allowed freedmen to move their families out from direct supervision of white supervisors. Despite the benefits some sharecroppers accrued from the system, planters profited more.

Does sharecropping still exist?

Mechanization and migration put an end to the sharecropping system by the 1960s, though some forms of tenant farming still exist in the 21st century.

Does sharecropping still exist today?

But by the 1940s—with increased mechanization and better-paying jobs in urban areas—sharecropping began to disappear in the United States, though some form of it still exists in a handful of areas. Sharecropping is routinely practiced today in a few countries such as Bangladesh, Ghana, Zimbabwe, India and Pakistan.

What was sharecropping and how did it work?

With a sharecropping contract, poor farmers were granted access to farm small plots of land. Instead of paying rent in cash, they were required to give a portion of the crop yield, called shares, back to the landowner.

When was sharecropping a thing?

When did Sharecropping Start and End? Sharecropping as a system had been in practice in the years before the Civil War, before 1861, but really grew in use after the Civil War, which ended in 1865. It reached full prominence during the 1870s.

Which of the following best describes the practice of sharecropping?

Which of the following BEST describes the practice of sharecropping? Land is rented to a farmer who pledges a certain percentage of the crops to the landowner.

What is sharecropping agreement?

Sharecropping agreements typically favored the landowner. In many cases , at the end of a planting season, a worker might be paid only one-third of the crop that he or she produced. If a sharecropper could contribute something else other than labor, like a mule for example, he or she might receive a slightly larger portion of the crop.

Why did sharecropping end?

Sharecropping ended in the mid-twentieth century, largely because workers left the fields for southern and northern cities. Blacks left the South in search of better jobs, and landowners sought new technologies to make cotton growing practical (and less expensive) with fewer people in the fields.

Who Were Sharecroppers?

A sharecropper is someone who would farm land that belonged to a landowner. The sharecropping family would plow, plant, weed, and harvest the land. However, they would only keep a small share of the crop, while the landowner would get the rest.

Why did sharecropping occur after the Civil War?

Following the Civil War, plantation owners were unable to farm their land. They did not have slaves or money to pay a free labor force, so sharecropping developed as a system that could benefit plantation owners and former slaves. Landowners would have access to a large labor force, and the newly freed slaves were looking for work. The workers could negotiate a place to work, and if they made enough money, they could purchase land or buy farm equipment.

What is the term for a time when someone would plow, plant, weed, and harvest the land?

Sharecropping refers to a time in American history when someone would plow, plant, weed, and harvest the land but only be able to keep a small share of the crop. They would farm land that they did not own, with the landowner keeping the bulk of the crop and its resulting profits.

What factors did sharecroppers consider when making money?

A sharecropper had to decide whether or not to stay on a certain farm from one year to the next. In many cases, a major factor was how much the landowner attempted to control the sharecropper's non-farm life.

Did sharecroppers have cash?

Sharecroppers rarely had cash, so they were extended credit to make purchases. After the crop was harvested in the fall, the sharecroppers received shares of the crop. With the cash they received, the sharecroppers had to pay back the debt accumulated during the planting season. Life Beyond Sharecropping.

What was the purpose of sharecropping after the Civil War?

The absence of cash or an independent credit system led to the creation of sharecropping. Sharecropping is a system where the landlord/planter allows a tenant to use the land in exchange for a share of the crop. This encouraged tenants to work ...

What percentage of sharecroppers were white?

Approximately two-thirds of all sharecroppers were white, and one third were black. Though both groups were at the bottom of the social ladder, sharecroppers began to organize for better working rights, and the integrated Southern Tenant Farmers Union began to gain power in the 1930s.

What is sharecropping in agriculture?

Sharecropping was an agricultural labor system that developed in Georgia and throughout the South following Reconstruction and lasted until the mid-twentieth century. Under this arrangement, laborers with no land of their own worked on farm plots owned by others, and at the end of the season landowners paid workers a share of the crop.

How did sharecropping work?

Sharecropping evolved following the failure of both the contract labor system and land reform after the Civil War (1861-65). The contract labor system, administered by the Freedmen’s Bureau, was designed to negotiate labor deals between white landowners and formerly enslaved people, many of whom resented the system and refused to participate. In addition, despite some talk during and immediately after the war of land reform, in which the federal government would divide Confederate-owned plantations into smaller farms to be distributed to freedmen, most land was returned to its original owners. Instead of enjoying the often quoted “forty acres and a mule” that the government might have provided, freedpeople in Georgia were left with few options as laborers. Following the Civil War, plantation owners, without enslaved laborers or the money to pay a free labor force, were often unable to farm their land.

How did sharecropping benefit the landowners?

Sharecropping developed, then, as a system that theoretically benefited both parties. Landowners could have access to the large labor force necessary to grow cotton, but they did not need to pay these laborers money, a major benefit in a post-war Georgia that was cash poor but land rich.

What is a sharecropper agreement?

The particulars of sharecropping agreements differed from place to place and over time, but generally those workers who could offer nothing but their ability to perform farm tasks made arrangements that overwhelmingly favored the landlord. In many cases, at the end of a season, a worker might be paid only one-third of the crop that he or she had produced. If a sharecropper and his or her family could provide something other than simply an ability to work—a mule, for example—then they might be paid with a slightly larger portion of the crop at the end of the season. Share-renters were laborers who could promise the landowner a fixed portion of the crop as payment for “renting” the land for a season. In this case the laborer might promise the landlord ten bushels of cottonseed in the fall as a fixed rent, and in turn the cropper would rely less on the landowner for support during the season.

What did sharecroppers need from their owners?

The owners of the state's largest plantations would also sell fertilizer, seed, clothing, shoes, and some food from the plantation store. Croppers working smaller operations often bought these necessities from local furnishing merchants.

Why did sharecropping end in Georgia?

End of Sharecropping. Sharecropping in Georgia ended in the mid-twentieth century, in part because workers left the fields for southern and northern cities. Black Georgians left the state for a variety of reasons, not least the greater degree of freedom afforded by northern states.

What percentage of Georgia's farms were owned by sharecroppers?

Though the system developed from immediate postwar contingencies, it defined the agricultural system in rural Georgia for close to 100 years. By 1880, 32 percent of the state’s farms were operated by sharecroppers; this figure would increase in the fifty years following. By 1910 sharecroppers operated 37 percent of the state’s 291,027 farms. Tenancy rates in general and sharecropping rates in particular were highest in those portions of the state that grew mostly cotton. In 1910, for instance, Burke, Dooly, and Houston counties led the state’s cotton production, and each had higher than average rates of tenant-operated farms and sharecropper populations.

How does sharecropping work?

Sharecropping has benefits and costs for both the owners and the tenant. In it, the landowner encourages the cropper to remain on the land, solving the harvest rush problem. Since the cropper pays in shares or portions of his harvest, owners and croppers both share the risks and benefits of harvests being large or small and of prices being high or low. Because both parties benefit from larger harvests, tenants have an incentive to work harder and invest in better methods than, for example, in a slave plantation system. However, by dividing the working force into many individual workers, large farms do not benefit from economies of scale. On the whole, sharecropping has been shown to be more economically productive than the gang system of slave plantations, though less efficient than modern agricultural techniques.

What are the advantages of sharecropping?

The advantages of sharecropping in other situations include enabling access for women to arable land where ownership rights are vested only in men.

Why did sharecropping become widespread in the South?

Sharecropping became widespread in the South as a response to economic upheaval caused by the end of slavery during and after Reconstruction. Sharecropping was a way for poor farmers, both white and black, to earn a living from land owned by someone else. The landowner provided land, housing, tools and seed, and perhaps a mule, and a local merchant provided food and supplies on credit. At harvest time, the sharecropper received a share of the crop (from one-third to one-half, with the landowner taking the rest). The cropper used his share to pay off his debt to the merchant.

Where is sharecropping legal?

An FSA photo of a cropper family chopping the weeds from cotton near White Plains, in Georgia, US (1941) Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land.

What is the difference between centralized and decentralized sharecropping?

The former is characterized by long lasting tenure. Tenants are tied to the landlord through the plantation store. This form of tenure tends to be replaced by paid salaries as markets penetrate. Decentralized sharecropping involves virtually no role for the landlord: plots are scattered, peasants manage their own labor and the landowners do not manufacture the crops. This form of tenure becomes more common when markets penetrate.

What was the only crop that could generate cash for the croppers, landowners, merchants and the tax collector?

A solution was the sharecropping system focused on cotton , which was the only crop that could generate cash for the croppers, landowners, merchants and the tax collector. Poor white farmers who previously had done little cotton farming needed cash as well and became sharecroppers.

What are some examples of legal systems that have been used in sharecropping?

The Italian mezzadria, the French métayage, the Catalan masoveria, the Castilian mediero, the Slavic połowcy and izdolshchina, and the Islamic system of muzara‘a (المزارعة), are examples of legal systems that have supported sharecropping.

What was the sharecropping system?

The sharecropping system became the primary farming system and a way of life for the farmers or tenants in the U.S. It basically took the place of the plantation system which existed before the Civil War. A modified form of sharecropping system is still practiced on a small scale in the United States.

What is sharecropping in agriculture?

The sharecropping system is an agricultural labor method that began in Georgia and the American South after the Civil War ended in 1865 . It arose from the devastation following the Civil War and was a result of a do-or-die situation. It is a system where a tenant works and raises crops in a portion of the land that belongs to ...

How and When did Sharecropping Start?

During the Civil War, the federal government promised that they would give the freed people a certain amount of plantation land as a compensation for all their work during the slavery era. William Tecumseh Sherman, a General in the Union Army, had supported this promise made by the government by granting 40 acres of land to each freed family. He issued a temporary plan of this grant. However, the freed slaves could hardly establish themselves as independent owners of land.

Why did sharecropping end?

The sharecropping system came to an end in the mid-twentieth century as farmers left for southern and northern cities. The blacks in Georgia left the place for many other reasons. The landowners started using new technologies like tractors and cotton pickers to increase their crop production with less farmers working in the fields. The white farmers also moved to other urban cities to seek industrial jobs.

What is a sharecropper?

It is a system where a tenant works and raises crops in a portion of the land that belongs to the landowner or planter, and the tenant receives a share of the harvest or the profit earned after the sale of the crops. The amount of crops that is shared by the sharecropper to the landowner is determined during the agreement with the landowner.

How is the sharecropping system determined?

The amount of crops that is shared by the sharecropper to the landowner is determined during the agreement with the landowner. With this share or income, he pays the rent of the house and land to the landowner. The sharecropping system became the primary farming system and a way of life for the farmers or tenants in the U.S.

Why did sharecroppers grow only cotton?

Sharecroppers were ordered by landowners to grow only cotton, as it was the most valuable crop. The continuous cotton production led to soil exhaustion due to no crop rotation. ◉ There were also economic problems as landowners and farmers depended on the production of cotton.

Summary

• Sharecropping evolved following the failure of both the contract labor system and land reform after the Civil War (1861-65). The contract labor system, administered by the Freedmen’s Bureau, was designed to negotiate labor deals between white landowners and formerly enslaved people, many of whom resented the system and refused to participate. In ad...

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Overview

Regions

Sharecropping agreements

Economic theories of share tenancy

See also

Further reading

External links