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Chapter 15: "What Visions of Freedom Did the Former Slaves and Slaveholders Pursue in the Postwar South?"

Read the following excerpt from A Sharecropping Contract (1866):

> We [Freedmen] furthermore bind ourselves to and with said Ross that we will do good work and labor ten hours a day on an average, winter and summer.... We further agree that we will lose all lost time, or pay at the rate of one dollar per day, rainy days excepted. In sickness and women lying in childbed are to lose the time and account for it to the other hands out of his or her part of the crop.... We furthermore bind ourselves that we will obey the orders of said Ross in all things in carrying out and managing said crop for said year and be docked for disobedience. All is responsible for all farming utensils that is on hand or may be placed in care of said Freedmen for the year 1866 to said Ross and are also responsible to said Ross if we carelessly, maliciously maltreat any of his stock for said year to said Ross for damages to be assessed out of our wages.

In what ways does the contract limit the freedom of the laborers?

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Answer :

GinnyAnswer

Final answer:

The sharecropping contract limited laborers' freedom through strict working conditions and dependency, hindering their economic independence and self-sufficiency in the postwar South.


Explanation:

The sharecropping contract limited the freedom of the laborers by enforcing strict working conditions, imposing penalties for lost time, and requiring obedience to the landowner's orders, which essentially restricted their autonomy and economic independence.

This arrangement perpetuated a cycle of debt and dependency, as the laborers had to pay a portion of their crops to the landowner, leaving them with limited opportunities to improve their own livelihoods or acquire land of their own in the postwar South.

The contract symbolized the challenges faced by former slaves seeking economic freedom and self-sufficiency in a society still marked by racial inequality and exploitation.


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