Why did many freed blacks prefer sharecropping over working for wages during reconstruction?

Forty Acres and a Mule

After the Civil War, tens of thousands of freed slaves left the plantations. The Union Army granted each freed family 40 acres of land and a mule. Many freed African Americans saw the “40 acres and a mule” policy as proof that they would finally be able to work their own land after years of slavery. Owning land was the key to economic independence.

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.

The Freedmen’s Bureau had to inform the freedmen and women that they could either sign labor contracts with planters or be kicked off the land they had occupied. Those who refused were eventually forced out by army troops.

By 1870, only around 30,000 African Americans in the South owned land (usually small plots), compared with 4 million others who did not.

Black Codes

In the early years of Reconstruction, most blacks in rural areas of the South were forced to work as laborers on large white-owned farms and plantations. Former Confederate state legislatures passed restrictive laws denying blacks legal equality and political rights. “Black codes” forced former slaves to sign yearly labor contracts or be arrested.

Rise of the Sharecropping System

The federal government did not help freed blacks in the quest to own their own land.

Freedmen preferred to rent land for a fixed payment rather than receive wages. By the early 1870s, sharecropping on cotton farms dominated agriculture across the South. Under this system, black families rented small plots of land, called shares. In return, they gave some of their crop to the landowner.

‘King Cotton’ Dethroned

The sharecropping system strengthened the South’s dependency on cotton, but the price for cotton was falling.

Sharecropping gave African Americans freedom in their daily work and social lives. However, the sharecroppers often owed more to the landowner (for the use of tools and supplies) than they could ever repay.

Some blacks managed to move from sharecropping to renting or owning land, but most were forced by poverty or the threat of violence to sign unfair contracts that left them little hope of improving their lives.

Source: Sharecropping
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The 1863 Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction proposed

• A plan for Radical Reconstruction
• The Ten-Percent Plan
• The Fifty-Percent Plan
• Andrew Johnson’s Plan for Reconstruction

Why did Congress reject Louisiana’s new constitution in 1864?

• It was drafted according to the Ten-Percent Plan
• It gave blacks the right to vote
• Congressmen believed it was too early to begin readmitting states
• All of the above

3. The Wade-Davis Bill stipulated that states could reenter the Union

• When 10 percent of voters pledged allegiance
• When 50 percent of voters pledged allegiance
• Only after ratifying the Fourteenth Amendment
• Only after ratifying the Fifteenth Amendment

4. Why did Lincoln pocket-veto the Wade-Davis Bill?

• He did not want slaves to have the right to vote
• He thought it was too early to begin Reconstruction
• He thought the bill was too lenient on white southerners
• He thought it would ruin his chance for reelection

5. The Radical Republicans

• Were only a minority group in Congress
• Wanted to punish the South for secession and the war
• Wanted to protect the civil and political rights of blacks
• All of the above

6. The Freedmen’s Bureau had the most success in

• Establishing schools for blacks
• Redistributing land to former slaves
• Distributing food and supplies to blacks and poor whites
• Safeguarding blacks’ civil liberties

The Compromise of 1877 was reached after

• Samuel J. Tilden conceded to Rutherford B. Hayes
• Congress passed the Electoral Count Act
• Congress agreed to repeal the Civil Rights Act of 1875
• Congress agreed to repeal the Ku Klux Klan Act

8. All of the following were components of Lincoln’s blueprint for Reconstruction except

• Readmission to the Union when 10 percent of voters pledged their allegiance to the United States
• A promise to protect all private property, excluding slaves
• Black suffrage
• Full pardons for all white southerners, except high-ranking military and government officials

What did William Tecumseh Sherman’s Special Field Order No. 15 do?

• Emancipated all blacks whom his soldiers encountered in the South
• Set aside land in Georgia and South Carolina specifically for freed slaves
• Established the Freedmen’s Bureau
• Established martial law in Georgia according to the First Reconstruction Act

10. The Thirteenth Amendment

• Prohibited slavery
• Granted citizenship to all Americans regardless of race
• Enfranchised all American men
• Prohibited presidents from serving more than two full terms

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 extended all of the following liberties to black Americans except

• The right to testify against whites
• The right to serve on juries
• The right to enter into legal contracts
• The right to vote

Which constitutional amendment did the Civil Rights Act of 1866 most closely resemble?

• The Twelfth Amendment
• The Thirteenth Amendment
• The Fourteenth Amendment
• The Fifteenth Amendment

What effect did the 1866 Memphis and New Orleans race riots and Andrew Johnson’s “Swing Around the Circle” speeches have?

• Convinced northerners that racism could never be completely eliminated
• Encouraged northerners to vote Democrat
• Encouraged northerners to vote Republican
• Divided the North between those who wanted harsher Reconstruction and those who wanted to end Reconstruction

14. Which U.S. Supreme Court decision(s) did the Fourteenth Amendment reverse?

• The Slaughterhouse Cases
• The Civil Rights Cases
• Dred Scott v. Sanford
• United States v. Cruikshank

15. Andrew Johnson believed that

• Blacks should be given the right to vote
• Blacks should be citizens
• Southern society should be completely transformed
• None of the above

By 1880, most southern blacks had found employment as

• Sharecroppers
• Artisans
• Landowners of small farms
• Wage laborers

17. Southern legislatures passed the black codes in response to

• Depression of 1873
• The Civil Rights Act of 1866
• The Fourteenth Amendment
• The Civil Rights Act of 1875

18. Who were carpetbaggers?

• Northern whites who moved to the South after the war
• White planter elites in the South
• Southern black politicians
• Northern Democrats who opposed Radical Reconstruction

19. Who were scalawags?

• Northern whites who moved to the South after the war
• White Unionists in the South
• Southern black politicians
• Northern Democrats who opposed Radical Reconstruction

20. The Ku Klux Klan was founded in Tennessee after the passage of the

• Fourteenth Amendment
• Fifteenth Amendment
• Civil Rights Act of 1875
• Civil Rights Act of 1866

21. After the Civil War, many former slaves celebrated their freedom by

• Searching for and reuniting with family members
• Pressing for education for their children
• Marrying
• All of the above

22. Why did most southern blacks prefer sharecropping to wage labor after the Civil War?

• Wages were too low to support their families
• They preferred the autonomy of farming their own plots
• Jobs with wages were competitive, but sharecropping was easy
• Not even whites wanted to be wage laborers

23. Why did southern white landowners prefer the sharecropping system to wage labor after the Civil War?

• Paying wage laborers was too expensive
• They made more money off the sharecropping system
• Sharecropping kept blacks bound to servitude as agricultural laborers
• Sharecropping required less work

One consequence of the Depression of 1873 was that

• Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives
• Republicans lost the White House in 1876
• Liberal Republicans split from the moderates and radicals
• All of the above

25. Liberal Republicans fought for all of the following except

• An end to Reconstruction
• Black suffrage
• Reform
• Downsizing the federal government

Who nominated Horace Greeley for president in 1872?

• Moderate and Radical Republicans
• Democrats
• The Union Party
• Democrats and Liberal Republicans

27. What was Crédit Mobilier?

• A dummy construction company created by corrupt railroad executives
• A scheme to embezzle funds from the U.S. Treasury
• A plot to corner the gold market
• A New York City corruption ring

28. Samuel J. Tilden rose to national fame when he

• Exposed the Whiskey Ring
• Prosecuted William “Boss” Tweed
• Ran for Congress as a Liberal Republican
• Ran for vice president as Horace Greeley’s running mate

29. Liberal Republicans rose to power primarily because many northerners wanted

• To end Military Reconstruction
• More protection for blacks’ civil liberties
• To get Grant out of office
• To end widespread corruption within the government

The Depression of 1873 was caused by all of the following except

• Bad bank loans
• Overspeculation in manufacturing
• Overspeculation in railroads
• Fears that the federal government was on the verge of bankruptcy

31. President Grant is best described as

• A corrupt politician who misused government funds and privileges
• An apathetic president who only wanted the spoils of office
• An honest but politically inexperienced man
• A diehard Radical Republican

32. Which of the following was one of the fastest-growing sectors of the economy during the Reconstruction era?

• Railroads
• Cotton
• Shipping
• Telecommunications

The government officials who embezzled money from the U.S. Treasury in 1874 were known as the

• Tweed Ring
• Crédit Mobilier
• Whiskey Ring
• Gold Ring

The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was a failure for all of the following reasons except

• Only individuals could file claims against violators
• Military Reconstruction ended before the bill was passed
• House Democrats had weakened the bill
• It was too difficult to enforce

35. What brought on the end of Radical Reconstruction?

• Democrats’ rise to power in Congress in 1874
• President Hayes’s removal of federal troops from the South in 1877
• The Civil Rights Act of 1875
• The Liberal Republicans’ split from the moderates and radicals in 1872

36. Which law did Congress pass to try to outlaw racial discrimination in all public places?

• Fourteenth Amendment
• Fifteenth Amendment
• Civil Rights Act of 1866
• Civil Rights Act of 1875

The Supreme Court’s ruling in the 1873 Slaughterhouse Cases weakened blacks’ rights under the

• Fourteenth Amendment
• Fifteenth Amendment
• Civil Rights Act of 1866
• Civil Rights Act of 1875

Democrats allowed Rutherford B. Hayes to become president in 1877 when Republicans promised to

• Repeal the Civil Rights Act of 1875
• Withdraw all federal troops from the South
• Overlook acts of terror by the Ku Klux Klan
• Print cheap paper money to assist impoverished farmers

What did the Compromise of 1877 do?

• Put a Republican in the White House
• Ended black dreams of racial equality
• Ended Reconstruction
• All of the above

40. The Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Cruikshank that

• The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was unconstitutional
• Racial discrimination by the federal government was illegal
• Only states could prosecute violators of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871
• Southern states could establish voter qualification requirements

Radicals in the House impeached Andrew Johnson in 1868 because he had violated the

• Civil Rights Act of 1866
• Electoral Count Act
• Resumption Act
• Tenure of Office Act

42. What did the Fourteenth Amendment do?

• Forbade slavery
• Granted citizenship to black Americans
• Gave black men the right to vote
• Forbade racial discrimination in public places

43. What did the Fifteenth Amendment do?

• Forbade slavery
• Granted citizenship to black Americans
• Gave all men the right to vote
• Forbade racial discrimination in public places

44. Why did seven Republican senators vote with Democrats to acquit Andrew Johnson during his impeachment trial?

• They did not want the president pro tempore of the Senate to replace Johnson
• They did not want to establish a dangerous precedent
• They did not believe the charges were substantial enough to warrant his removal from office
• All of the above

45. The First Reconstruction Act did all of the following except

• Divide the South into five military districts
• Declare that the southern states were to be treated as conquered territories
• Establish martial law in the South
• Place federal troops in charge of voter registration

All of the following are reasons that Republicans nominated Rutherford B. Hayes for president in 1876except

• He had served two terms as a senator
• He was from the politically important state of Ohio
• He had no controversial political opinions
• He had been a Union general in the Civil War

47. From which group did southern Republicans received most of their support?

• Unionist whites
• Blacks
• Wealthy white landowners
• The Ku Klux Klan

Congress passed the Resumption Act in 1875 to

• Control the Ku Klux Klan
• Withdraw federal troops from the South
• Reduce the amount of money in circulation
• Control white “redeemer” governments in the South

49. Grant’s reputation was damaged by all of the following scandals except

• The Crédit Mobilier scandal
• The Fisk-Gould scheme
• The Whiskey Ring
• The Tweed Ring

50. Grant is buried in

• Washington’s Tomb
• Jefferson’s Tomb
• Lincoln’s Tomb
• Grant’s Tomb

How did sharecropping affect freed African Americans?

What was the main reason why many African Americans became sharecroppers after the Civil War?

What are the advantages of sharecropping over slavery?

How did sharecropping help African Americans?