Effects of Reconstruction on Daily Life

Plantation Owners Homes had been destroyed Lost money Felt Betrayed that former slaves had left Not accustomed to working in fields Had to pay others to work Had to learn new ways of dealing with their workers Many entered into sharecropping agreements

Small Farmers Most Confederate soldiers were small farmers Many were homeless No money to buy seed or equipment Very difficult to get loans Crops failed due to bad weather and cotton prices fell to low levels Had to compete with sharecropping freedmen Many left farms to work in cities Owed taxes, money to banks, store owners Many starved

Freedmen Able to make own decisions Had to find shelter and begin earning money to pay for their daily needs Wanted to reunite with family Most just wanted to farm Many began sharecropping in hopes of making enough money to buy own land Unfair arrangements made this difficult

Women Plantation owners wives were not used to daily chores Had to create work contracts with former slaves Wives of small farmers had it extremely difficult Many had lost their husbands in war Lived in poverty and had an overwhelming amount of work Constitution of 1868-women were granted the right to own land in their name after marriage

Northern Immigrants Thousands of Northerners began to settle in the South Took advantage of terrible conditions 1876: got Congress to sell land cheaply Opened mines, built factories, and replanted crops Some came to help with aid programs, teach, or state governments

Northern Immigrants Many Southerners did not like Northern white Republicans Called them Carpetbaggers: carried belongings in carpetbags Claimed the carpetbaggers made money off of the bad situation in the South Also thought they were creating problems by helping the former slaves and giving them ideas about voting

Northern Immigrants Scalawags: native white Southern Republicans Considered traitors Supported Reconstruction Supported the new government for their own gain Supported voting rights for freedmen