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Slavery In The 1800s

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In the 1800s, slavery was a prominent figure in the United States of America. . As no clear records of slaves were kept, estimates of their total numbers can not be based on a census, but are instead determined by the knowledge that slaves (originally brought to the New World in 1619) reproduced at a rapid rate. Additionally, the continued influx of slaves through the American Civil War caused the total number of enslaved Africans to grow. Thus, In the mid-1800s, the total number of slaves was estimated to be somewhere in the realm of four million. The number one reason that slavery was embraced was economics. There was not enough labor force in the new world and slaves were considered free labor. When one takes into consideration the initial …show more content…

Being free, though, did not ensure their freedom. While freed, they remained four million of the most despised people in the United States. Further complicating the issue was the fact that very few freedmen had any education and even fewer possessed life skills. They had always been told what to do and when to do it.
In the aftermath of the war the Freedman’s bureau was established to assist the freed slaves. Many different programs were put into place in an effort to alleviate the suffering of the prior slaves. This helped both the freed slaves and the farmers. Now, the freed slaves could work the land for wages and the farmers could obtain cheap laborers to do their bidding. While it did much to help freed black men further their pursuit of true freedom, the Bureau was given little power by Congress, and it expired in …show more content…

Sharecropping was a system that eventually evolved to include white workers and allowed the workers to work for a plantation owner in exchange for a portion(usually one-half) of the overall crop. Initially, sharecropping was seen as a higher status than working under a contract because is made the freedmen feel like it was a step towards owning property.Unfortunately, sharecropping was not as beneficial to the freedmen as it appeared. It often left the freedmen with debt at the end of the season and held them in the contract until they could pay it

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For instance, The Freedman states, “For its part, the federal government established the Freedmen's Bureau, a temporary agency, to provide food, clothing, and medical care to refugees,” (Library of Congress 2020). Essentially, this explains that it's important to provide slaves/refugees with the tools they need to live. If there was no one to supply former slaves with food, water, clothing, etc then many of them would die of starvation or dehydration. Furthermore, in regards to sharecropping The Southern Economy: Reconstruction and Today discusses the benefits for sharecropping. For example, it says, “ In sharecropping, both freed slaves and poor whites borrowed land, seeds, and tools from a landowner, in exchange for a share of the crop at harvest time,” (The Southern Economy 2011).

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The landowners took advantage of their tenants by overcharging for land and underpaying for the crops. The tenants began falling deeper into debt. They could not leave until they paid off their debt, which was nearly impossible. Although former slaves had been freed, they were still facing many struggles in free life. America’s plan for reconstruction had good intent, but did not give African Americans the equality they deserved.

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