Postwar Changes to Texas Farming

1 Postwar Changes to Texas Farming

Imagine that you are a slave on a Texas plantation. After years ofdreaming of a better life, you suddenly are told that you are free. Younow have the right to live wherever and however you wish, as long asyou follow the laws of the land. What would be your plan of action?How would you make a living? Where would you live? How might theseplans change if you had family members with you?

Economic Conditions After the WarBecause most of the Civil War battles were fought in other states,

Texas suffered little physical damage. But even though the land remainedintact, the economy did not. The war left Texas and its people financiallyruined. To begin with, many people’s entire savings were tied up inConfederate bonds. When the Confederacy was broken up, these piecesof paper became worthless.

Many businesses also fell into financial ruin. Before and during thewar, businesses had sold goods to the Confederate government on credit.Now these debts would never be paid. This was a fatal blow to manybusinesses that owed debts of their own.

The Return of the Small FarmAs more and more businesses failed, many men and women found

themselves without jobs. For many, the only way to survive was to growtheir own food. The small family farm was once again common in Texas.

Although many Texans had farmed before the Civil War, little aboutfarming life remained the same after the war. Soldiers returned home tofind their farms in desperate need of repair. Plows, wagons, barns, and

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Why It Matters NowTraces of the economy and society that developed after theCivil War can still be seen inTexas today.

TERMS & NAMES OBJECTIVES MAIN IDEAbond, credit, commercial farming, subsistence farming, barter,tenant farming, sharecropper, landlord, mortgage,cycle of poverty

1. Analyze the economic effects of the Civil War on Texas.

2. Analyze the social effects of the Civil Waron Texas.

3. Express and defend a point of view aboutpostwar events in Texas.

After the Civil War, life in Texaschanged dramatically. Economicproblems led to a return to the small family farm, and the freedslaves faced the problems of earning a living in conditions thatwere often unfair.

bond certificate issued by a government or company promising to pay back aborrowed sum with interestcredit an agreement in which a buyer is allowed to pay over a period of time, usually withinterest or fees added

Write your response to Interact with History in your Texas Notebook.

WHAT Would You Do?

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fences had to be repaired or replaced. To make matters worse, lines oftransportation were underdeveloped and inefficient. Building new roads,railways, and shipping centers was made more costly and time-consum-ing by the economic conditions in postwar Texas and the state’s size. Asa result, farmers often could not obtain the supplies they needed.

The lack of efficient transportation in Texas also made it difficult tosend crops to market. Without a low-cost way to ship these goods, Texanssaw little reason to pursue commercial farming. Instead, most farmersreturned to subsistence farming after the war. That is, farmers generallygrew only enough food to meet their own family’s needs.

Most farm families grew corn and other grains and raised a few barn-yard animals. Gardens provided fresh vegetables for the family table. Anyextra eggs, milk, or vegetables were bartered or sold to neighbors or tomerchants in town. This was a way for farm families to obtain goods andservices that they could not produce themselves.

The Rise of Tenant FarmingBefore a family could begin farming, it needed land. Unfortunately,

few Texans owned land. Many lost their land because of financial diffi-culties during and after the Civil War. Some plantation owners, however,had large amounts of land going to waste. These landowners divided theirplantations into smaller sections that could be sold to farm families. Ifthe families could not afford to buy the land outright, they could rent it.The practice of renting land for farming is known as tenant farming—away of life that Texans would maintain for decades to come.

The problem with tenant farming is that it seldom allows a tenantfarmer to earn enough money to buy the land. Unlike purchase payments,rental payments never end. Even after years of payments, a tenant farmeris no closer to owning the land than when he or she started. Few familieshad the cash to pay for land, so tenant farming was a way to survive. It

The Civil War and the emancipationof slaves left Texans providing forthemselves on a smaller scale.Some had to spin their own cottonto make clothing. ● How do you think subsistence farming affected the Texas economy?

▲

commercial farming producingcrops for salesubsistence farming producingalmost all the goods needed by thefarm family, usually with a littleextra for salebarter to trade one product orservice for anothertenant farming the practice ofrenting the land on which onelives and farms

Taking out a loan was risky forpoor tenant farmers. Often, lenders would charge an inter-est rate of up to 150 percent.This meant the farmer had topay back two and a half timesas much as he or she had bor-rowed. As a result, even a smallloan could put a family in debtfor years. ● At an interest rateof 150 percent, how muchwould a farmer owe on a loanof $100?

To Mathematics

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TEXAS VOICES

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provided a family with land on which to live and grow the food theyneeded. As a result, the number of tenant farms in Texas increased fromabout 38 percent of all farms in 1880 to about 50 percent in 1900.

SharecroppingA few farm families were able to pay their rent in cash. However,

many families were too poor for that. Instead, they paid with a share ofthe crop. These tenant farmers were known as sharecroppers.

There were two main types of sharecroppers. Some owned their ownfarming equipment and bought their own supplies, such as seed andfertilizer. These families owed the landlord only for the use of the land.Poorer renters started out with little more than their own labor and skills.The landowner furnished the farm equipment, seed, and other supplies,as well as the land. These renters usually owed as much as half of theircrops to the landlord. Often the landlord would sell the crop and thenpay only a “wage” to the sharecropper. Sharecroppers could never becompletely sure about the landlord’s honesty in such a deal.

When he’d sell it, he’d say, “You get $20, Joe.” Well, you had to take his wordfor it. You didn’t know what he got for the cotton or what he got for nothing.All you got to do is take his word.

Bubba Bowser, Navasota sharecropper

In addition to owing much of their crop to the landlord, most sharecroppers had to buy food, clothing, and other necessities on credit.

sharecropper a tenant farmerwho receives a share of the valueof the crop, minus charges forrent and other expenseslandlord the owner of propertythat is leased or rented to another

One thing that kept manyfamilies trapped in a cycle ofpoverty was illiteracy, or theinability to read and write.Before the Civil War, slaveowners purposely kept AfricanAmericans from learning to read.As a result, most freed slaveswere illiterate. This put them ata great disadvantage in mattersof business and politics.

The Freedmen’s Bureau,which operated in Texas for afew years following the CivilWar, recognized the need forliteracy. It set up more than100 Texas schools for AfricanAmericans. By 1900 the liter-acy rate for African Americanshad risen to 60 percent. ● Whydo you think slave ownerswanted to keep African Amer-icans illiterate?

OvercomingIlliteracy

Although Texas’s agricultural future looked bright, many Texans remained poor because of acycle of poverty. ● How did the debt cycle favor landowners?▲

SHARECROPPERS’ CYCLE OF POVERTY

By the time sharecroppers had shared their crops and paid their debts, they rarely had any money left. A sharecropper became tied to one plantation,

having to work until his debts were paid.

To pay debt, sharecropper promises landowner a greater share of next year’s crop.

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When settling up, landowner says that sharecropper owes more than he has earned.

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Sharecropper gives landowner crop to sell. Sharecropper gets half the earnings, minus his debt for the year.

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Sharecropper plants and harvests crop.

3

Sharecropper buys food and clothing on credit from landowner’s store.

2

Sharecropper receives land and seed. In exchange, he promiseslandowner half the crop.

1

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To secure this credit, the renter’s remaining share of the crop was mortgaged. If the loan was not repaid, the renter’s share of the crop couldbe taken as payment.

Social Adjustments After the WarThe failing economy was not the only challenge Texans faced after

the war. They also found themselves in a changing society. For instance,a large part of society was now missing from everyday life. Thousands ofTexas families had lost husbands, fathers, and brothers in battle. Manymore saw their loved ones return home sick, hurt, with missing limbs, oremotionally scarred by the war.

Furthermore, the very face of Texas society was changing. FreedAfrican Americans now often lived, worked, and farmed alongside theirwhite neighbors. Many white Texans were bitterly disappointed by theoutcome of the Civil War. These individuals made life even more diffi-cult for the freedmen. However, many white and African AmericanTexans tried to work together productively.

Freedmen Turn to SharecroppingAfter the war, freed African Americans entered society in need of

jobs. Since most of their skills related to farming, many hoped to findwork as farmhands. Unfortunately, there simply were not enough jobs togo around. This caused many African American families to turn to share-cropping. As with poor whites in Texas, this established a cycle of debtfrom which it was hard to break free.

At the end of the Civil War, an estimated 250,000 AfricanAmericans lived in Texas—making up about 30 percent ofthe population. Most of thesewere former slaves who hadfew job skills and could notread or write. The Freedmen’sBureau tried to help the freedslaves find jobs and establishstable lives. Some Confederateveterans resented the fact thatsuch aid was not available tothem. ● Why do you think thegovernment showed prefer-ence to the freed slaves overConfederate veterans?

REGION

mortgage to give a lender legalclaim to property as securityuntil a debt is repaid

Terms & NamesIdentify:• bond• credit• commercial

farming• subsistence

farming• barter• tenant farming• sharecropper• landlord• mortgage

Organizing InformationUse a sequence chart likethe one shown to identifythe post–Civil War eventsthat led thousands of Texansto become sharecroppers.

Do you think Texans stillwould have become share-croppers if the Texas econ-omy had been strong afterthe Civil War? Explain.

Critical Thinking1. How did the Civil War

change the farming economy in Texas?

2. Describe one positive way and one negative waythat Texas society wasaffected by the Civil War.

3. Overall, do you thinkgovernment aid to the

freedmen was helpful orharmful? Defend youranswer.

Interact with HistoryReview your response toInteract with History in yourTexas Notebook. How do youthink unemployment anddiscrimination would haveaffected your plans? Do youthink you would havebecome a sharecropper?Why or why not?

A C T I V I T YCitizenship Research Texas towns that were established by African Americans after emancipation. Choose one of

the towns and present a report on its location, founders, and history.

Go to www.celebratingtexas.com to research the Activity topic.

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The Confederacy is broken up.

Poor whites and freed AfricanAmericans turn to sharecropping.

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