3-4.6

It Is Essential For Students To Know

• The plantation system collapsed as a result of the loss of slave labor because of the freeing of the slaves through the war and the 13th Amendment.
• However, the agricultural, cotton economy of pre-war South Carolina survived because of the development of the system of sharecropping.
• There was no cash available to pay wages for farm workers so the sharecropping system was developed to make use of the available free African American labor force.
• The landowner provided acreage, seed and equipment such as hoes and plows, and the freedman provided the labor in exchange for a portion, or share, of the crop that was produced. This mutually beneficial arrangement allowed the freedman some control over his labor and provided manpower for the land owner.
• As time went on, however, the system mired the sharecropper, whether white or African American, in poverty and indebtedness.
• As a result of the war, there was massive destruction of cities, towns, factories, and railroads. A fire in Charleston in 1861 and the bombardment of the city left it in ruins. The burning of Columbia as a result of Sherman’s March left the capital city and many towns along Sherman’s route destroyed.
• The few factories that were in the South had converted to war production, but the money paid by the Confederate government was worthless once the war ended so they went out of business.
• Some factories had been destroyed.
• Railroads and bridges had been destroyed by both armies to prevent the enemy from using them to transport soldiers and supplies.
• Confederate money was worthless and so was not available to finance rebuilding, pay taxes, or pay workers.
• There was also a shortage of men due to heavy war casualties.
• It is important that students understand that the purpose of Reconstruction was not to rebuild the destroyed economic infrastructure of the South, but rather to reconstruct the political Union.
• The United States government did not then think that it was the responsibility of national government to rebuild the South’s economy. That was the responsibility of states and individuals.

It Is Not Essential For Students to Know”

• It is not essential for students to know details of the controversy over how Columbia was burned.
• Students do not need to remember “Sherman’s bowties” although this story would help students to remember the devastation to the transportation system that resulted from the war.