USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -In the history of the United States, carpetbagger is a largely historical term used by Southerners to describe opportunistic Northerners who came to the Southern states after the American Civil War, who were perceived to be exploiting the local populace for their own financial, political, and/or social gain.

Detailed explanation-2: -Carpetbagger” and “scalawag” are derisive epithets which southern Democrats, or Conservatives, applied to white Republicans, or radicals, during Congressional or Radical Reconstruction. Carpetbagger referred to Republicans who had recently migrated from the North; scalawag referred to southern-born radicals.

Detailed explanation-3: -Carpetbagger is always a negative word, implying or accusing someone of exploiting a situation for personal gain. During the U.S.’s Reconstruction period, which followed the American Civil War, carpetbagger referred to white Northerners who moved to the South to easily win political offices.

Detailed explanation-4: -scalawag, after the American Civil War, a pejorative term for a white Southerner who supported the federal plan of Reconstruction or who joined with black freedmen and the so-called carpetbaggers in support of Republican Party policies.

Detailed explanation-5: -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.