All of the plantation "jobs" were held by slaves. Southerners had to scavenge work elsewhere. Freeing the slaves would have made little to no impact overall because if they left the plantation, those jobs would open up for others looking for work.
The northern folks were the ones wanting to keep the slaves in the south so they didn't come up north and start taking their jobs. The LAST thing they wanted was to "free" the slaves as this would be one of the results. After the war, there had to be a justification made for killing 750,000 young men in the prime of their lives. The real reason, continued economic raping of the south by the north, would never fly. That's when "ending slavery" became the "reason". Yea, right.
All of the plantation “jobs”
what jobs????? everyone worked in the fields if it wasn’t cotton it was food. To just live....when it came crop time even Lily White Granny was in the fields, it was a hard life you know nothing about...
“All of the plantation “jobs” were held by slaves.”
No. Immigrants also worked in the South, Seems like Italians made up the most. Along with Germans, Swedes, Hungarians, Danes, Poles.