What was the main effect of the systems of sharecropping and debt peonage put in place in the south after the civil war? the southern economy was unable to move from an agricultural basis to an industrial basis. african americans were prevented from leaving the plantations where they had been enslaved. agricultural output grew quickly enough to return to pre-civil war levels by the end of the 19th century. land ownership was transferred from large plantation owners to both poor white farmers and emancipated slaves.