Ben and I began our lesson today discussing international news and Ben shared his opinions that all the wars going on right now are over power and religion. I suggested territory as well and Ben conceded that he believes that is the case with Ukraine. He is informed about world affairs and able to defend and justify his positions effectively. We then resumed our discussion of Reconstruction (Chapter 23 in our text) and discussed life for formerly enslaved people after Reconstruction. We read about General Sherman's plan to divide plantations among freedmen so literally everyone would get '40 acres and a mule.' We reviewed the pros and cons of the sharecropping system, whereby farmers receive supplies and land in exchange for providing a share of the crop to the landowner, as a system that often forced enslaved people into a lifetime of debt to landowners. We were to about to begin discussing the Ku Klux Klan at the close of the session; Ben commented that he already knows too much about the KKK.