*Slavery might have ended in the South, but for most Southerners, agriculture as a way of life did not.

*For one thing, although some former slaves went North or West or were able to practise trades in town or purchase cheap land through the Freedman’s Bureau, most of them had no money at all and nowhere to go but back to their old plantations, or perhaps to new ones. 

*Furthermore, with the loss of their most important investment, most Southerners could not invest in new industries—indeed, many plantations were foreclosed on, and many Southern state governments were unable to pay their debts.  Many planters with land to farm could not even afford to pay anyone to work it.

*Rather than paying workers, southern planters began to let them work the land under other systems.  In some cases they let a family work a section of land in exchange for a portion, usually one third to one half, of the family’s crops at the end of the year.  Because they shared their crops with their landlord, these farmers were called ‘sharecroppers.’

*Other families worked for planters, but rather than sharing their crops, they paid a fixed rent.  This gave them more flexibility, partly because they were allowed to choose what they grew.  This in turn gave them higher social status.  Because they paid rent, they were called tenant farmers.

*Because blacks were no longer compelled to work anyone might work for a share of the crop or for the right to rent land.  Consequently, by 1875, 40% of the work force on plantations was white, whereas before the War it was probably less than 10%.

*Sharecroppers and tenant farmers were encouraged to grow only cash crops on their plots, so they could give a better crop to their landlord or have more money to pay their rent.  The South quickly redeveloped its cotton production and soon exceeded pre-War levels.  However, many farmers did not grow enough food to feed their families.  Eventually the South, the most rural part of the country, had to import food.

*These systems created vicious cycles of debt for whites and blacks. At the beginning of the year, sharecroppers and tenant farmers had to buy their seeds and other supplies, but they typically had to borrow money to do so, either from the bank, their landlord, or the local merchant, a class that grew richer and richer during this time.  Likewise, farmers often borrowed money to buy food, clothes, or supplies during the year.  When the crop was finally sold, the proceeds went to pay off this debt.  The next year, more money was borrowed to start planting again.  If crops failed one year, it might be hard to pay off the debt, and the property could be seized.

*After the War, Southerners visited the North to see how the Yankees had won.  They saw that the North had factories, and many of them, in part because the War had forced Northern factories to enlarge small facilities into large ones, making some Northerners into millionaires as they sold equipment to the Army during the war.

*Many Southerners felt the South needed to create a ‘New South,’ with cities and factories:  the wanted to become ‘Southern Yankees,’ and soon got their chance.

*By the late 1870s, the North was weary of overseeing Reconstruction, the Supreme Court was questioning the legality of some of its measures, and the Southern states had all met the requirements for readmission to the Union.

*In 1876 the presidential election did not have a clear winner.  Rutherford B. Hayes, a Union general who was wounded five times and noted for his bravery and later Governor of Ohio and a Congressman, lost the popular vote to Samuel Tilden, but got more of the electoral vote. 

*However, neither man had a majority because Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Oregon had one or more of their electoral votes questioned, so that twenty votes were unallocated at the end of 1876.  The election was close—if Tilden got even one of the disputed votes, or if Harrison got them all, that man would win.

*Congress set up a special committee.  The committee had 7 Democrats, 7 Republicans, and one man who was thought to be neutral.  However, at the last minute, the neutral man, David Davis of the Supreme Court, was elected to the Senate and resigned his judgeship.  He was replaced by a Republican and the commission voted 8 to 7 in favour of Hayes.

*The Democrats were furious.  However, rather than have a constitutional crisis, a bargain was made:  the Compromise of 1877.  Tilden let Hayes take office without complaint, but in return Reconstruction would end in the South.

*Shortly after this, the Southern states found ways around the XIV and XV Amendments, and blacks lost most of their rights and privileges, including the ability to safely cast their votes most of the time.  They did still receive some education and some services, but by this point segregation was just beginning, and it might be separate, but it was rarely equal.

*The Compromise of 1877 that allowed Hayes to take the Presidency is the only truly notable part of his term in office aside from the fact that he brought a reputation for honesty back to the White House after the corrupt era of Grant. 

*Furthermore, with the War and Reconstruction in the past, the North and the New South could move into the modern world while making the United States into the economic superpower it would become in the Twentieth Century, but it did so while ignoring the inequality of American Indians, African Americans, and women, issues that would not be fully addressed for decades to come.

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This page last updated 5 April, 2009.