The Civil War, considered a Northern victory, had drastic effects on both Northern and Southern territories. Throughout the duration of the war, more than 620,000 soldiers had lost their lives battling over the institution of slavery. With the Northern win of the Civil War, the institution of slavery came to a halt, and a new era arose, dismantling the efforts that had taken place after the Civil War. The Reconstruction era was not only an era where many former slaves had been granted an increase of freedom, but an era of great resistance and change. During this time, free slaves and African Americans were pushing for suffrage as well as the same opportunities as whites, merely because their idea of freedom had been based on their accounts
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With large plantations including slave cabins unoccupied, Southern elite adapted the practice of sharecropping. The Southern man would provide boarding (slave cabins) as well as seed, food, clothing, and tools necessary, while collecting a percentage of their crop at the end of each year. In contracts signed by many who could not read nor comprehend the means of the contract, the Southern man had the rights to collect more crop if they had not followed all terms of the contract (Document 2). Many Freedmen were forced to abide to the Southern man’s demands, leaving them forever in debt. It was recounted that a family had finally saved enough money to pay off their debt, thus leaving sharecropping, however the harvest that would have set the family free mysteriously ablazed right before it was planned to be harvested. Events like this occurred constantly in hopes to keep the Freedmen indebted to Southern elite, creating an institution that resembled slavery. Document 2 expresses that even though slavery had come to an end, Southerners would do anything to maintain their control over the Freedmen, as if they were still their personal
With large plantations including slave cabins unoccupied, Southern elite adapted the practice of sharecropping. The Southern man would provide boarding (slave cabins) as well as seed, food, clothing, and tools necessary, while collecting a percentage of their crop at the end of each year. In contracts signed by many who could not read nor comprehend the means of the contract, the Southern man had the rights to collect more crop if they had not followed all terms of the contract (Document 2). Many Freedmen were forced to abide to the Southern man’s demands, leaving them forever in debt. It was recounted that a family had finally saved enough money to pay off their debt, thus leaving sharecropping, however the harvest that would have set the family free mysteriously ablazed right before it was planned to be harvested. Events like this occurred constantly in hopes to keep the Freedmen indebted to Southern elite, creating an institution that resembled slavery. Document 2 expresses that even though slavery had come to an end, Southerners would do anything to maintain their control over the Freedmen, as if they were still their personal