The term carpetbagger was used by opponents of Reconstructionthe period from 1865 to 1877 when the Southern states that seceded were reorganized as part of the Unionto describe Northerners who moved to the South after the war, supposedly in an effort to get rich or acquire political power. Pan-Americanism Movement History & Attempts | What is Pan-Americanism? carpetbagger, in the United States, a derogatory term for an individual from the North who relocated to the South during the Reconstruction period (186577), following the American Civil War. The term was applied to Northern politicians and financial adventurers whom Southerners accused of coming to the South to use the newly enfranchised freedmen as a means of obtaining office or profit. When the Civil War ended, Campbell was assigned to the Sea Islands of Georgia, where he engaged in an apparently successful land reform program for the benefit of the freedmen. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Foner wrote that the term, as an insult, was used mainly by "white supremacist opponents of Reconstruction" policies. Chamberlain was said to justify white supremacy by arguing that, in evolutionary terms, the Negro obviously belonged to an inferior social order. [46][47][48][49], The term was also used by John Fahey, a former Premier of New South Wales and federal Liberal finance minister, in the context of shoddy "tradespeople" who travelled to Queensland to take advantage of victims following the 20102011 Queensland floods. As its most basic level, the name derived from luggage common at the time, which resembled bags made of carpeting. Jacksonian America: Bank of the United States and the Panic of 1837. These carpetbaggerswhom many in the South viewed as opportunists looking to exploit and profit from the regions misfortunessupported the Republican Party, and would play a central role in shaping new southern governments during Reconstruction. At the county level, Northerners made up about 10% of the commissioners, county judges and sheriffs. Background Paper for an Address on "Succession and Continuance of Mutuals", "New king's decree favours 'democratic' way", "Radical Routes plans to free housing co-ops from the mortgage trap", "Carpet-baggers 'exploiting' Indigenous artists", "White ignorance about indigenous issues fails everyone", "Four Corners ABC Interview - John Ioannou", "Keep out flood carpetbaggers, says reconstruction inspectorate John Fahey", "West Virginia Newcomer Battles Carpetbagger Label", "Perspective | In the Pa. Senate race, will it matter that Dr. Oz is a carpetbagger? Decades later, First Lady Hillary Clinton faced the same charge in the same place when she ran for a Senate seat in New York. , After a __________ in singles, a player loses the serve. About 13% to 21% of district court judges were Northerners, along with about 10% of the delegates who wrote the Reconstruction constitution of 1869. A scalawag was a white southerner who supported the Republican Party during the period of Reconstruction. (Among other special features, they were painted a non-glossy black to make them less visible to searchlights.) How a Derogatory Term From the 1860s Remains a Political Insult. The term "carpetbaggers" refers to Northerners who moved to the South after the Civil War, during Reconstruction. White businessmen generally boycotted Republican papers, which survived through government patronage. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. They used their money toward private ends rather than public investment. My people have been told by these schemers, when men have been placed on the ticket who were notoriously corrupt and dishonest, that they must vote for them; that the salvation of the party depended upon it; that the man who scratched a ticket was not a Republican. ", Blake J. Wintory, "African-American Legislators in the Arkansas General Assembly, 18681893. Carpetbaggers moved to the south to take advantage of the cheap land and business that were being sold by southerners. lessons in math, English, science, history, and more. He migrated to Helena, Arkansas in 1862. [29], Charles Woodward Stearns, also from Massachusetts, wrote an account of his experience in South Carolina: The Black Man of the South, and the Rebels: Or, the Characteristics of the Former and the Recent Outrages of the Latter (1873). Du Bois have noted that Democrats as well as Republicans received bribes and participated in decisions about the railroads. A carpetbagger is an individual who moved from the north to the south during the period of Reconstruction (1865-1877). He eventually became vice-chair of the Georgia Republican Party, a state senator and the head of an African-American militia which he hoped to use against the Ku Klux Klan. Many southerners viewed the political motivations of Scalawags as traitorous to their southern heritage. Definition and Examples, Election of 1860: Lincoln Became President at Time of Crisis. Scalawags were white Southerners who cooperated politically with black freedmen and Northern newcomers. [citation needed]. The modern usage of the term is far removed from the deep bitterness and racial aspect of the Reconstruction era. Democrats held most of the economic power and cooperating with them could make his future. These groups were aligned behind Republican goals. A Republican county commissioner in Alamance eloquently denounced the situation: "Men are placed in power who instead of carrying out their duties form a kind of school for to graduate Rascals. [37] He returned to Arkansas in 1888, setting up practice as a lawyer. Of the 142 men who served in the 12th Legislature, some 12 to 29 were from the North. He was a major speculator in a distressed financial paper. [8], Beginning in 1862, Northern abolitionists moved to areas in the South that had fallen under Union control. Define carpetbagger. They also wrote that he supported states' rights and laissez-faire in the economy. Godbey, William Baxter, "Autobiography of Rev. The suit resulted in the only successful Reconstruction prosecution under the state's civil rights law. Scalawags were white Southerners who cooperated politically with black freedmen and Northern newcomers. After the war, hundreds of Northern white women moved South, many to teach the newly freed African-American children. Spanish-American War Causes & Results | Who Won the Spanish-American War? "[3], In the United Kingdom at the end of the 20th century, carpetbagger developed another meaning: in British English it refers to people who join a mutual organization, such as a building society, in order to force it to demutualize, that is, to convert into a joint stock company. Get started for free! To make this move, the individual would pack their belongings in a large bag, called a carpetbag. [37], In March 1879 Furbush left Arkansas for Colorado. This site is using cookies under cookie policy . Term was originally a very bitter insult leveled at northerners who ventured into the defeated South. After the war, Furbush migrated to Liberia through the American Colonization Society, where he continued to work as a photographer. A carpetbagger was a northerner who moved to the South after the American Civil War. Political term arose during Reconstruction and became widespread. The term carpetbagger was a nickname for not a What is one service the Freedmen's Bureau provided for African Americans? African Americans made up the overwhelming majority of southern Republican voters during Reconstruction. [18], The "Black and Tan" (biracial) constitutional convention in Mississippi in 1868 included 30 white Southerners, 17 Southern freedmen and 24 non-southerners, nearly all of whom were veterans of the Union Army. W. B. Godbey, A.M.", God's Revivalist Office. To be called a carpetbagger today is to indicate that an individual is not native to a region for which they are running for political office. [58] An alternative explanation is that the northerners who ventured southward following the Civil War were, in many cases, bringing much-needed expertise and capital to the region. What Was the Teapot Dome Scandal? | Teapot Dome Scandal Significance. This is in reference to the taxes that are rung from the labouring class of people. Southern states had no public school systems, and upper-class white Southerners either sent their children to private schools (including in England) or hired private tutors. Southern society during Reconstruction was a complicated landscape of competing interests. Carpetbagger was a pejorative denomination used by US citizens from the Southern states, former Confederates, to refer to people from the North who came to live in the South after the US Civil War. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. [31], George E. Spencer was a prominent Republican U.S. Get the Brainly App fault "[26] Tourge later wrote A Fool's Errand, a largely autobiographical novel about an idealistic carpetbagger persecuted by the Ku Klux Klan in North Carolina. C. Vietnam is split into several small states of different political structures What is a Carpetbagger? The term was used to describe a White southerner who worked with members of the Republican Party and supported Reconstruction policies. Northerners who came to the South and supported African American equality. This site is using cookies under cookie policy . Many Carpetbaggers even experienced problems with the Ku Klux Klan as a result of moving to the south. Omissions? Stranger in a Strange State: The Politics of Carpetbagging from Robert Kennedy to Scott Brown. [citation needed], Most of the 430 Republican newspapers in the South were edited by scalawags20 percent were edited by carpetbaggers. The term scalawag was originally used as far back as the 1840s to describe a farm animal of little value; it later came to refer to a worthless person. I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. Which statement is true about Vietnam today? "Scalawags" were white Southerners who supported the Republican party, "carpetbaggers" were recent arrivals in the region from the North, and freedmen were freed slaves. The bitter Civil War in the United States left the country physically destroyed. Answer: The term "carpetbaggers" refers to Northerners who moved to the South after the Civil War, during Reconstruction. Frequently Carpetbaggers supported legislation that promoted racial equality for newly-freed men, Carpetbaggers began a variety of different businesses in the south, from banking to newspapers. We strive for accuracy and fairness. Updated: August 29, 2018 | Original: March 3, 2015. "Louis Post as a Carpetbagger in South Carolina: Reconstruction as a Forerunner of the Progressive Movement". In 1865, the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (or the Freedman's Bureau) was created by Congress in an attempt to help reconstruction efforts of the south. According to Oliver Temple Perry in his 1912 book, "Notable men of Tennessee, from 1833 to 1875, Their Times and Their Contemporaries", Tennessee Secretary of State and Radical Republican Andrew J. Fletcher "was one of the first, if not the very first, in the State to denounce the hordes of greedy office-seekers who came from the North in the rear of the army in the closing days of the [U.S. Civil] War" within his June 1867 stump speech that he delivered across Tennessee for the re-election of the disabled Tennessee Governor William G. Brownlow: "No one more gladly welcomes the Northern man who comes in all sincerity to make a home here, and to become one of our people, than I, but for the adventurer and the office-seeker who comes among us with one dirty shirt and a pair of dirty socks, in an old rusty carpet bag, and before his washing is done becomes a candidate for office, I have no welcome. The word was first used in this context in early 1997 by the chief executive of the Woolwich Building Society, who announced the society's conversion with rules removing the most recent new savers' entitlement to potential windfalls and stated in a media interview, "I have no qualms about disenfranchising carpetbaggers. He was instrumental in organizing African-American dockworkers into the Labor Union of Colored Men, to gain them jobs at the docks after 1870. Accustomed to viewing Southernersblack and whiteas devoid of economic initiative, the "Puritan work ethic", and self-discipline, they believed that only "Northern capital and energy" could bring "the blessings of a free labor system to the region. Davidson, Gienapp, Heyrman, Lytle, Stoff. The term is now used in the United States to refer to a parachute candidate, that is, an outsider who runs for public office in an area without having lived there for more than a short time, or without having other significant community ties. Who were the Carpetbaggers? During the period of Reconstruction, many northerners moved to the south and were called Carpetbaggers. Yet the term is still considered to be an insult, and it often features in negative campaigning. The context was that a planter elite kept taxes low because it benefited them. The victor in the end was the "Minstrel" faction led by carpetbagger Elisha Baxter over the "Brindle Tail" faction led by Joseph Brooks, which included most of the scalawags. Northerners who came to the South and supported African American equality. b Meanwhile, white Southerners who supported Reconstruction-era Republicans were called scalawags by their political enemies, who considered them traitors to the South and just as bad, if not worse, than carpetbaggers. 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. Search for an answer or ask Weegy. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. Robert J. McNamara is a history expert and former magazine journalist. The term carpetbagger was used by opponents of Reconstructionthe period from 1865 to 1877 when the Southern states that seceded were reorganized as part of the Unionto describe Northerners. The combination of beef and oysters is traditional. Historian Eric Foner, who has written extensively on the period of Reconstruction, offered his interpretation on the term carpetbagger in a letter to the editor of the New York Times in 1988. They pushed Republicans from political positions, were responsible for the Coushatta Massacre, disrupted Republican organizing, and preceded elections with such intimidation and violence that black voting was sharply reduced. The Man with the (Carpet) Bags, Thomas Nast, 1872. Carpetbaggers generally supported measures aimed at democratizing and modernizing the South civil rights legislation, aid to economic development, the establishment of public school systems. [5] Although "carpetbagger" and "scalawag" were originally terms of opprobrium, they are now commonly used in the scholarly literature to refer to these classes of people. After the war, many former Union soldiers remained in the south rather than return to their homes in the north. Later, however, as Reconstruction governments began to alter the reality of Southern political life, the newcomers were characterized by white Southerners as the dregs of Northern society preying upon the misfortune of the defeated South. His election is notable because he was elected as a black Democrat during a campaign season notorious for white intimidation of black and Republican voters in black-majority eastern Arkansas. a The dispute weakened both factions and the entire Republican Party, enabling the sweeping Democratic victory in the 1874 state elections.[33]. Fetterman won the election, with some claiming that this attack was vital to his victory. [34][35][36], In 1873 the state passed a civil rights law. Thomas Nast: The Man with the (Carpet) Bags, This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/topic/carpetbagger, Texas State Historical Association - Carpetbaggers, United States History - Scalawags and Carpetbaggers. Senator, wrote a letter to U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant that was widely reprinted. . 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 control over his new surroundings, often against the will or consent of the original inhabitants. What is Sharecropping? Hillary Clinton, in 2001, ran and won the election to the U.S. Senate for New York. There they joined like-minded Southerners, most of which were employed by the Methodist and Baptist Churches, who spent much of their time teaching and preaching to slave and freedpeople congregations both before and after the Civil War. governments are given power by the people? Carpetbaggers were northerners who headed south after the war; Scalawags were southerners. not a Why did the Freedmen's Bureau operate longer than the year that was originally planned? [24], Escott claimed, "Some money went to very worthy causesthe 1869 legislature, for example, passed a school law that began the rebuilding and expansion of the state's public schools. He made eloquent speeches advocating that the plantations be broken up and distributed among the freedmen. While the federal government worked on the readmission process, Carpetbaggers took political advantage of this time period. Harris, William C. "James Lynch: Black Leader in Southern Reconstruction", Klein, Maury. Many were former Union soldiers. Scalawags were white Southerners who cooperated politically with black freedmen and Northern newcomers. Some of those disparaged as carpetbaggers were opening banks and schools and helping to rebuild the infrastructure of the South which had been badly damaged, if not entirely destroyed. In practice, the term carpetbagger was often applied to any Northerners who were present in the South during the Reconstruction Era (18651877). Many Carpetbaggers were even targeted by the Ku Klux Klan, mainly because of their efforts in supporting racial equality in southern states. [56], The awards season blog of The New York Times is titled "The Carpetbagger". He was accused of using his position as governor to trade in state bonds for his personal benefit. ", "The South after Reconstruction | Boundless US History", https://archive.org/details/notablemenoftenn00temp_0/page/126/mode/1up?q=Mason&view=theater, "Business: Your Money Is carpetbagging dead? At first they were welcomed, as southerners saw the need for northern capital and investment to get the devastated region back on its feet. [citation needed], Corruption was a charge made by Democrats in North Carolina against the Republicans, notes the historian Paul Escott, "because its truth was apparent. Robert Kennedy, in 1964, ran and won the election to the U.S. Senate for New York. "A Carpetbagger's Conversion to White Supremacy.". - Biography, Facts & Timeline, Oneida Nation: History & Connection to Paul Revere, Who was Edmund Randolph? d Tariff of 1816 History & Significance | What was the Tariff of 1816? The term "carpetbaggers" refers to Northerners who moved to the South after the Civil War, during Reconstruction. Carpetbaggers moved to southern states for economic, political, and social opportunities; Scalawags were politically motivated. He died in 1931 at age 89. [53] 2022 Republican nominee for Pennsylvania Senator Mehmet Oz was prominently attacked as a carpetbagger by his opponent John Fetterman for previously living in New Jersey until months before the election. In 1870, Northerners controlled 21% of the South's railroads (by mileage); 19% of the directors were from the North. [citation needed], Some historians of the early 1930s, who belonged to the Dunning School that believed that the Reconstruction era was fatally flawed, claimed that Chamberlain was later influenced by Social Darwinism to become a white supremacist. Carpetbaggers typically were supporters of the Republican Party. Selecting your Favorite Nicknames. "[16], Many Northern and Southern Republicans shared a modernizing vision of upgrading the Southern economy and society, one that would replace the inefficient Southern plantation regime with railroads, factories, and more efficient farming. , After a __________ in singles, a player loses the serve. Engagement in Republican politics was an outgrowth of that pursuit. Between 1997 and 2002, a group of pro-demutualization supporters "Members for Conversion" operated a website, carpetbagger.com, which highlighted the best ways of opening share accounts with UK building societies, and organized demutualization resolutions. , still divided, but both parts are democratic. Sacalawags were white southerners that supported the Republican Party during Reconstruction. They were among the founders of the Republican party in Mississippi. A term often associated with carpetbagger was "scalawag." While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. An error occurred trying to load this video. And organizations like the Freedmen's Bureau, which sought to help the millions of the formerly enslaved people gain basic education while transitioning to life after enslavement, were often met with resentment and even violence. 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 control over. Investors in these mutuals would receive shares in the new public companies, usually distributed at a flat rate, thus equally benefiting small and large investors, and providing a broad incentive for members to vote for conversion-advocating leadership candidates. Mathematics, 07.12.2020 17:00. B. social contract Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). On November 6, 1875, Hiram Revels, a Mississippi Republican and the first African-American U.S. c Many carpetbaggers were said to have moved South for their own financial and political gains. Davidson, Gienapp, Heyrman, Lytle, Stoff. governments are given power by the people? The federal government had banned former Confederate leaders and military from voting, which limited the political power of southern states. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. Scalawags were white Southerners who cooperated politically with black freedmen and Northern newcomers. As a result, many southern governments were controlled by Carpetbaggers who were able to maintain their position in southern governments due to the federal governments' restrictions on former Confederates. succeed. 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.