Question

To every one applying to rent land upon shares, the following conditions must be read, and agreed to….. The croppers are to have half of the cotton, corn, and fodder (and peas and pumpkins and potatoes if any are planted) if the following conditions are complied with, but-if not-they are to have only two-fifths (2/5). Nothing can be sold from their (sharecroppers’) crops until my rent is all paid, and all amounts they owe me are paid in full. All must work under my direction……..Work of every description, particularly the work on fences and ditches, to be done to my satisfaction, and must be done over until I am satisfied that it is done as it should be. - Sharecropping Contract, 1882 (Modified) (Check out THIS video for a quick review.)

1. What is the Historical Circumstance of this document?

2. Who is the Intended Audience of this document?

3. What is the Point of View of the document?

4. What is the Purpose of this document?

Answer 1

The historical circumstance of this document is the existence of sharecropping contracts.

The target audience for this document is people who were interested in renting land, many of them ex-slaves.

The point of view presented in the document was the point of view of the landowner.

The purpose of the document is to set out the requirements that the landowner established for those who wished to use their land for their own production, or to sell.

Step-by-step explanation:

The text above shows an excerpt from a sharecropping Contract.

This type of contract refers to the historical moment in which many people, most of them ex-slaves, had to submit to land lease contracts from white southerners, so that they could plant and establish a survival farming system to maintain themselves. and, if possible, sell to other people.

These contracts emerged after the secession war, and it was a way of making ex-slaves dependent on white masters, preventing them from enjoying full freedom, as, as you can see, they had to direct much of their work to please the landowner.