he laborer contracted for an annual wage but received only a portion of it (often only subsistence rations) on a monthly basis; (2) the ‘share wage’, in which the work force simply contracted for a specified share of the crop. The freed-men never did have the option of a periodic cash wage in return for their labor.”
Stagnating prices, violence over legal battles, rising debt, and undermined political power also took their toll on the southern economy. In many instances, free people became entrapped in a brutal system of labor extraction because of debt owed to their employers. White yeoman were also separated from their land by similar circumstances, and many agrarian workers became trapped in a system of profitless forced labor relations. Many plan
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