How did land ownership change after the civil war?

Answer 1

Of course with any 'civil' war, there really are no winners. But the former Confederate States were devastated by the war. The loss of life was horrific. The railroads, buildings, plantations and the genteel, southern way of life were in many cases, damaged beyond repair. Human vultures call 'carpetbaggers' swarmed over the wreckage, grabbing all they could. Without slavery, the plantations that were so profitable, would never recover.

With the war at an end, thousands of freed slaves were left adrift in a world they were little prepared to cope in. And with the death of President Lincoln, the restoration of the South was set back decades.

The Southern economy in 1900 was still on 75% of what it was in 1860.

Answer 2

Property of the Confederate government was confiscated. Most private property of citizens was not. Thus, where General Sherman had divided up the Georgia Sea Island plantations into "40 acre" plots and allotted them to runaway slaves (to get those runaways to stop following his army) the owners were able to go to court after the war and eject these residents by proving their title to the real estate. An exception was Arlington, a plantation belonging to General Lee's wife, and the closest thing to a home General Lee had. This had been confiscated by a vengeful Union army general, Montgomery Meigs, for use as a cemetery (Meigs son had been killed not long before in the war). Arlington was never returned, and is today Arlington National Cemetery. The US government did eventually pay General Lee's son who was to have inherited the estate for the property, but not until after General Lee had been dead for some years.

Answer 3

The government in the South didn't want to give 100% land ownership to the newly freed slaves. They had to be sharecroppers on the plantations where they originally were slaves.

Answer 4

it was in total destruction