HI 202 Paper 1

Kyle Hubbuch
HI 202
Prof. Franklin
February 5, 2015

Partially Freedmen Post Civil War some slaves lives got better, some got worse, others did not really change all that much. Sharecropping for the white farmer was the thing to do post Civil War, especially if you could convince some of your old slaves to work for you. You end up making pretty good money while paying half of your profit away to your hardworking slaves. Too bad for them there happens to be five to ten of them working for him and none of them really make a good amount of money by working for a sharecropper even though they have no knowledge of the money and do not realize how bad of a deal they are getting. Land ownership and freedom was a huge part in these newly freedmen’s life and the southern white man, Andrew Johnson and the sharecroppers never gave the past enslaved their proper freedom or chances to make a living on their own. Land ownership was a very big deal post Civil War, and as a matter of fact still is today as well. It is a huge step in a person’s life to sign his or her name on their first lease and live on their own. That is what the freedmen of the post Civil War era felt. They felt a joy; they had been enslaved for many years and finally they had been let free and been given land to live on and President Andrew Johnson takes it right out from underneath them to give it back to the original owners. Since the land had be basically repossessed original land owners, it forced slaves to become working for the sharecroppers getting minimal pay and very limited benefits. In the Voices of Freedom a freedman states, “ This is our home, we have made these lands what they were, we are the only true and loyal people that were found in possession on these lands(Foner 566).” They truly believe that the land should be granted to them and are devastated when President Johnson does not grant them the land but instead hands it back over to original owners. It really put a damper on the freedmen’s new life as free people and almost forces them to make a living by working back for original owners just under contract with limited pay. In A Sharecropping Contract, freedom of the slaves is not well represented at all. When you dull it down and look into the meanings of each individual part they are back living the same life they were before except they now have to pay for anything that may happen, such as get hurt or sick and get very minimal pay. If they were to get sick and could not pay for the expenses the contract holder would pay but then the freedman and his family would not get paid again until he had worked off his debt. It was truly the opposite kind of situation those freedmen wanted after years of enslavement. Slaves lives have not changed in the way majority of them though it was going to after the Civil War was over. When the war ended and they became free they wanted to get jobs, even though most could not read or write and knew nothing other

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