· Some Radical Republicans wanted to give each freedman “40 acres and a mule.” However, all the freedmen were given was their freedom.
Sharecropper – farmer who works part of the land and gives the landowner part of the harvest
How did sharecropping work?
· Freedmen would farm land belonging to white owners, oftentimes their old masters.
· Freedmen would pay rent for the land they farmed by giving the landowner a percentage of their crops.
· In addition, freedmen would purchase seed, tools, and other supplies from the landowner.
· As a result, freedmen were in constant debt to the landowners and were never able to earn a profit. If they tried to move, they could be arrested. Therefore, freedmen became tied down to the land, in a state similar to slavery.
· Neither candidate, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes or Democrat Samuel Tilden, had enough electoral votes to win the election.
· A special commission of Congress awarded the election to Hayes, who promptly ended Reconstruction.
· A Southerners could now vote again, and federal troops were removed from the South.
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