Read the excerpt below from A Sharecropping Contract (1866). "We [Freedmen] furthermore bind ourselves to and with said Ross that we will do good work and labor ten hours a day on an average, winter and summer. . . . We further agree that we will lose all lost time, or pay at the rate of one dollar per day, rainy days excepted. In sickness and women lying in childbed are to lose the time and account for it to the other hands out of his or her part of the crop. . . . We furthermore bind ourselves that we will obey the orders of said Ross in all things in carrying out and managing said crop for said year and be docked for disobedience. All is responsible for all farming utensils that is on hand or may be placed in care of said Freedmen for the year 1866 to said Ross and are also responsible to said Ross if we carelessly, maliciously maltreat any of his stock for said year to said Ross for damages to be assessed out of our wages."In what ways does the contract limit the freedom of the laborers?

The contract is economically binding the Freedmen, as seen in this excerpt "bind ourselves to and with said Ross that we will do good work and labor ten hours a day on an average, winter and summer"

Explanation:

So, the contract is esentially cutting the freedom of movement for the Freedmen, although they are legally free, economically they are dependant on the landlord, as can be comprehend in this excerpt "We furthermore bind ourselves that we will obey the orders of said Ross in all things in carrying out and managing said crop for said year and be docked for disobedience. All is responsible for all farming utensils that is on hand or may be placed in care of said Freedmen for the year 1866 to said Ross and are also responsible to said Ross if we carelessly, maliciously maltreat any of his stock for said year to said Ross for damages to be assessed out of our wages."

The contract therefore is more reminiscent of a feudal serf contract, than that of a labourer. Sharecropping thus would represent a way for the old landlord and slaver elite of the South to legally continue to exploit the African American laborers, and become one of the reasons for the Great Migration in the period between 1890-1930.