Sharecropping is a system of farming that was prevalent in the United States after the Civil War. Under this system, landowners provided agricultural land, tools, and other resources to laborers who, in turn, provided their labor in cultivating the crops. Sharecropping contracts were used to formalize this agreement between the landowners and the laborers. But who wrote these contracts?

The answer is not straightforward. Sharecropping contracts were typically negotiated between the landowner and the tenant farmer, and there was no standard form or template for these contracts. As a result, the exact language and terms of the contract varied widely depending on the specific agreement reached between the two parties.

In many cases, the contracts would have been drafted by lawyers or other legal professionals hired by the landowners. These lawyers would have been responsible for ensuring that the contract was legally binding and enforcedable. They would have also been responsible for including any provisions that were specific to the crops being grown, the location of the land, or other unique aspects of the agreement.

However, it`s important to note that many sharecropping contracts were not written down at all. Instead, they were verbal agreements between the landowner and the tenant farmer. These agreements were often enforced through informal means, such as social and economic pressures, rather than through the legal system.

So, while it`s impossible to say definitively who wrote every sharecropping contract, it`s clear that these agreements were highly personalized and dependent on the specific circumstances of the landowner and the tenant farmer. What`s more important than the identity of the person who drafted the contract is the fact that the sharecropping system itself was exploitative and often led to economic hardship for those who participated in it.