Henceforth, these difficult people are often known as Carpetbaggers they received the name,
because they carried all their possessions in a bag made out of carpet. Originally, people called
them Scalawags, but a more preferable name approached hints the name Carpetbaggers. Having
a desire to work on behalf of the newly emancipated slaves was one reason they went to the
South. They left during and immediately after the Civil War, and those northerners headed to the
southern states, also driven by hopes of economic and financial gain.
First off, the major reason Carpetbaggers came to the South was in hopes of financial gain. According to,
History.com staff “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”(1). Nevertheless, one way the Carpetbaggers gained financially was by looking to make money and took advantage of the economic plight of the Southerners. Henceforth, another reason could conclude of a desire to work on behalf of the newly emancipated slaves According to, adversity
Defining a Carpetbagger is simple a Carpetbagger is a pejorative term for a Northerner who moved to the South after the American Civil War, especially one who went South to gain political influence or personal wealth. A Scalawag was any white Southerner who supported the federal plan of Reconstruction after the Civil War. Moreover, Carpetbaggers traveled from the North to the South looking to exploit the trouble of the South, while Scalawags were already native to the South. Although, they were divergent, the two groups had the same motive to exploit the south during the Reconstruction. According to, Boundless “The Scalawags turned on their own kind and were deemed as traitors to the South, cooperating with the Republicans for the same reasons as the Carpetbaggers - to get rich by exploiting Southerners or gaining power through political advancement ”(1). Both the alien Carpetbaggers and the renegade Scalawags had the same objectives during the Reconstruction era.