USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -White Southerners commonly denounced “carpetbaggers” collectively during the post-war years, fearing they would loot and plunder the defeated South and be politically allied with the Radical Republicans.

Detailed explanation-2: -These “carpetbaggers”–whom many in the South viewed as opportunists looking to exploit and profit from the region’s misfortunes–supported the Republican Party, and would play a central role in shaping new southern governments during Reconstruction.

Detailed explanation-3: -Therefore, the majority of Southerners saw them as traitors. Former Confederate soldiers were disenfranchised at the beginning of Reconstruction because they had not yet taken an Ironclad Oath of allegiance to the Union. This gave incoming Northerners more political power.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Carpetbaggers had a significant effect on Reconstruction: Many White Southerners were dispossessed of their lands by Carpetbaggers and denied political power. Carpetbaggers sought allies with Scalawags and Freedmen to form the Republican Party in the South.