Friday Oct. 4, 2013

1. Friday Oct. 4, 2013 • Take out your chart home work from last night. • With your partner: compare the evidence you found for each statement

2. Birth of the “New South” Evidence Against Evidence For Statement 13th Amendment shook the econ. foundations - South 1. Many planters managed to hang on to their land 1. Farming in the South after the Civil War changed very little. 2. Planters couldn’t find workers willing to work for them Regained land after paying debt 2. 3. Sharecropping 4. Tenant farming Changes in labor force white & black laborers 5. 6. Emphasis on cash crops cotton, tobacco, sugar cane Cycle of debt rural poverty deeply rooted in the South 7. 8. Rise of merchants stores sprang up to sell supplies on credit

3. Birth of the “New South” Evidence Against Evidence For Statement Most southern factories handled only the early, less profitable stages of production lumber, pig iron, undyed fabric 1. Southern leaders urged the South to build an industrialized economy 1. Reconstruction Transformed the South into an industrialized, urban region Rebuilding & extension of southern RRs. turned towns into cities 2. Big profits went to northern companies that sold finished products. 2. Reconstruction funds were raised by heavy taxes on individuals, still in debt from war 1. During Southern Reconstruction, the growth of business would bring better times for everyone. 1. South was one giant business opportunity because the infrastructure had to be rebuilt Spending by Reconstruction legislatures added 130 million to Southern debt 2. 2. Expand services to Citizens. Public Schools Much of the big spending for Infrastructure was lost to corruption 3. 3. Congress & private investors poured money into infrastructure Blacks, whites, Rep.& Dem., Southerners & Northerners all Participated in corrupt deals 4.

4. Birth of the "New South" Chapter 5 section 3

5. Sharecropping family in the post war era THE ORIGINS OF THE NEW SOUTH Reconfiguration of southern agriculture: sharecropping and tenant farming Both sharecropping and tenant farming held the promise of freedmen gaining some economic independence, which they did but at a heavy cost: they lost their freedom because they remained tied to white-owned land in a cycle of debt The practice of sharecropping developed in the years after the Civil War and persisted until the mid-twentieth century.

6. Sharecropping and the Cycle of Debt Poor whites and freedmen have no jobs, no homes, & no money to buy land. Sharecropper cannot leave the farm as long as he is in debt to the landlord. Poor whites & freedmen sign contracts to work in exchange for part of the crop At harvest time, the sharecropper owes more to the landlord than his share of the crop is worth Landlords keeps track of the money that sharecroppers owe him for housing & food

7. Tenant farming, which replaced the slave-based agricultural system in the south, enabled farm laborers to rent ground from landowners for a percentage of crops (called crop rent) or cash payments (called cash rent). Terms of contracts varied, dependent on whether the laborer owned any equipment or purchased his own seed and supplies. • Crop rent contracts generally required that one-fourth to one-third of the crop be paid to the landlord. • Sharecroppers, at the lowest rung of tenant farming, lacked equipment and capital, which had to be provided by landlords. Thus, they received a smaller percentage of crops, typically 50 percent. /

8. Friday Oct. 4, 2013 Journal #9: • What skills have we worked on in class thus far? • What is evidence? How do we use evidence in a history class? • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVomz8TXrqE