Final answer:
Sharecropping is a system where farmers rent land and pay the rent using a portion of their crops. This practice was widespread in the post-Civil War South and was part of the crop lien system that often trapped farmers in debt.
Step-by-step explanation:
- The system of farming where farmers gave part of their crop to pay for the land they rented is known as sharecropping. Sharecroppers were essentially tenant farmers who entered into agreements with landowners to farm a portion of their land and as rent, they would give a part of their harvest to the landowner.
- This was particularly common in the post-Civil War South under the crop lien system, where freed people and poor farmers worked land that could be the same plantations that they or their forebears were enslaved on.
- They would often buy seeds and other supplies on credit with high interest rates and then use their future crops as collateral for these loans, which led to a cycle of debt and poverty. The system was inequitable and often kept sharecroppers in a perpetual state of financial instability.