Which is the best description of the southern economy during reconstruction? a) the southern economy was stabilized because of trade relationships with great britain and france. b) the southern economy was still based on agriculture and cotton, but now depended on sharecropping rather than slave labor. c) the southern economy was transformed from being based on agriculture to being completely dependent on industry and manufacturing. d) the southern economy was completely restored by 1866 and was actually more productive and profitable than the pre- civil war economy.