Reconstruction policy had little economic impact
on the South’s recovery from the devastation of
the Civil War
• The economy continued to rest on agriculture
and cotton, but now depended on sharecropping
rather than slave labor
• The national government did not see its role as
taking an active hand in managing the economy
until the 20th century and so the national
government did not rebuild the war-torn region
economically.
• The South remained in a state of economic
depression well into the 20th century
