Sherman gave a pronouncement that slaves could have 40 acres and a mule since the owners of plantations in the South fled their land so the slaves can claim it as theirs. The former slaves would raise the crops themselves and have the entire land as their own. The "Proclamation of Amnesty" by President Andrew Jackson did not support Sherman's idea of land given to the former slaves. Jackson wanted to restore authority back to the U.S. so he gave pardon to all the Southern's that rebelled against the union and he wanted their land to be given back to the owners. General Rufus Saxton wrote a "report" concerning how the southern blacks would respond. He wanted to fulfil the slaves hopes about getting land and he observed the positive side of getting the land to slaves. He saw the former slaves make settlements, they built schools, churches, roads and made vast improvements. "The Abandoned Lands" by Major General Oliver O. Howard talked about how Howard had to go to the slaves and convince them to give up the la

Some individuals support land reform because they wanted to fulfil the slaves hopes that they too could own there own land and make a living on their own. They saw that slaves would make settlements and provide for their own without any help. Other individuals did not support the idea of land reform because they felt that since the North had won the war the Southern's learned their lesson about not to rebel so they should be given all their property back even though the slaves would of claimed the land as their own. The individuals that opposed the idea of giving land to the slaves made it difficult for them to even get their own plot of land. The idea of sharecropping and the credit system looked appealing to many slaves so they tried the idea of both. Sharecropping let the slave share the land with the owner and they would split the earnings half way. But first the slave would have to go to a merchant to purchase all the equipment and items that he would need to survive. Since the slave had no money, he would use credit from the merchant. The merchant would hike up the prices and by the time of ne

Some common words found in the essay are:
Sharecropping Contract, Andrew Jackson, Augustus Straker, Rufus Saxton, Sherman Sherman, Farm Taylor's, Oliver Howard, former slaves, land slaves, Norfolk Virginian, , idea land, former slave, land owners, white plantation, credit system, land reform, taylor's farm, Special Field, idea land reform, getting land, white plantation owners, fulfil slaves hopes,
Approximate Word count = 750
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)