Which statement explains the reason for the rise of the sharecropping system that developed in the South in the late 19th century? New laws forced former slave owners in the South to provide shelter and employment for newly emancipated slaves. Because most former slaves lacked advanced agricultural skills, Southern farmers created a way to train emancipated slaves without having to pay them. The abolishment of slavery left Southern farmers with a labor shortage, but they lacked the capital to hire wage workers on their farms. Because of widespread destruction of land after the war, most farms in the South had greatly reduced in size and the need for labor had diminished.