Definition Of Carpetbagger In History

Southern editors and the origins of carpetbagger and scalawag journal of southern history 72 november 2006.

Definition of carpetbagger in history.

A carpetbagger was portrayed as a lower class schemer with little education who could carry everything he owned in a cheap carpet bag these new arrivals supported the republicans the party of. Edge of the sword. During the reconstruction period 1865 77 to denote a northerner who moved to the south. The term carpetbagger used exclusively as a pejorative term originated from the carpet bags a form of cheap luggage made from carpet fabric which many of these newcomers carried.

The term came to be associated with opportunism and exploitation by outsiders. Carpetbagger definition a northerner who went to the south after the civil war and became active in republican politics especially so as to profiteer from the unsettled social and political conditions of the area during reconstruction. Someone who tries to be elected as a politician in a place away from their home because they. Like the similar term carpetbagger the word has a long history of use as a slur in southern partisan debates.

The ordeal of carpetbagger marshall h. In general the term carpetbagger refers to a traveler who arrives in a new region with only a satchel or carpetbag of possessions and who attempts to profit from or gain. Carpetbagger derogatory term originally used in the u s. It was applied to politicians and financial adventurers whom southerners accused of coming south to use the newly enfranchised freedmen to obtain office or profit.

Louisiana state university press 2003. A term often associated with carpetbagger was scalawag the term was used to describe a white southerner who worked with members of the republican party and supported reconstruction policies. Twitchell in the civil war and reconstruction. To white southern democrats scalawags were perhaps even worse than carpetbaggers as they were viewed as betraying their own people.

The term is now used in the united states to refer to a parachute candidate that is an outsider who runs. In united states history the term scalawag sometimes spelled scallawag or scallywag referred to white southerners who supported reconstruction policies and efforts after the conclusion of the american civil war.