Final answer:
Congressional leaders were hesitant to break up plantations and distribute land to freed slaves because President Johnson opposed confiscation of property, an act that could have dismantled the old Southern aristocracy and helped resolve economic challenges faced by freedmen and poor whites.
Step-by-step explanation:
Many congressional leaders were unwilling to consider breaking up plantations and redistributing the land to freed slaves largely due to the influence of President Johnson, who opposed the forced confiscation of property. After the civil war, Johnson ordered the land that had initially been granted to freed people, such as the Sea Islands experiment, to be returned to its previous owners. Despite the intentions of some Radical Republicans to destroy the old plantation system and the Southern aristocratic class, and to provide freedmen with land to gain their loyalty and to pay off war debts, Johnson's stance prevailed. Additionally, agricultural economic challenges and the crop lien laws favored planters and merchants, ensuring they were paid first and keeping freed people and poor whites in a state of dependency and poverty.