# What effect did Reconstruction have on former slaves? Were they better off after Reconstruction than they were before the Civil War?

The Reconstruction was the time after the civil war when Lincoln tried to bring back the south after its defeat in the civil war. During that time the slaves were "freed" and did not have to work on the plantations anymore. However, many still did work on plantations because of a way of doing cropping called share cropping. Which allowed the former slaves a land and a place for a house however to use that land they had to farm their land and give about half their crops over to the land owner and in some cases even more then half. They also had to pay for the tools that they got from t he land owner because, where else were they going to get the tools they need? They could sell some of their crops for profit however it was very little profit and sometimes no profit at all. Also if u fail to pay the debit you had or crops you were evicted and another family would take your place, it was very hard to find work back then for former slaves. After that all said i think they were a little better off before the civil war. I am not saying i support slavery however they had a lot less stress from providing and different laws attacking them, as well as, being arrested for no reason at all other then the color of your skin. This is my opinion.