Final answer:
The system of sharecropping kept formerly enslaved persons economically dependent on landowners, trapped in debt, and prevented the South from developing economically by hindering land improvement and fair profit distribution.
Step-by-step explanation:
The system of sharecropping primarily kept formerly enslaved persons economically dependent on landowners in the South following the Civil War. This practice ensured that freed people, as well as impoverished white farmers, could not attain independent livelihoods and often became trapped in a cycle of debt from which it was very hard to escape. Through sharecropping agreements, farmers paid landlords with a portion of their crops, typically a significant share, which heavily favored the landlords and perpetuated a substantial power imbalance.
Sharecropping also discouraged substantial improvement of the land due to year-to-year leases and exorbitant interest payments, thus preventing economic development. The system did not bring investment capital, encourage northern migration, nor did it provide a fair distribution of farm profits. Instead, it cemented the status of the South as an agricultural backwater, with many generations affected by severe economic limitations.