Land redistribution (40 Acres and a mule)
Very few former slaves had enough money to buy land and even those who did, whites refused to sell them property. In 1865, during the Civil War, General Sherman promised freed slaves 40 acres per family and the use of army mules if blacks served as soldiers. In 1865, President Johnson ordered that original landowners should be allowed to reclaim their lands and throw former slaves off their property.
Congress passed weak legislation or rejected land-reforms proposals. For instance, the 1866 Southern Homestead Act is a prime example. It did set 44 million acres in the South for freed blacks and loyal whites, the land was swampy and not adequate for farming. Most homesteaders did not have the tools and resources to even farm successfully.
This broken promise about black Americans gaining land was a detriment to Reconstruction and was the birth of sharecropping and tenant farming.
Congress passed weak legislation or rejected land-reforms proposals. For instance, the 1866 Southern Homestead Act is a prime example. It did set 44 million acres in the South for freed blacks and loyal whites, the land was swampy and not adequate for farming. Most homesteaders did not have the tools and resources to even farm successfully.
This broken promise about black Americans gaining land was a detriment to Reconstruction and was the birth of sharecropping and tenant farming.