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In History of the United States
Who were the carpetbaggers and the scalawags?
Some office-holders were northern-born Republicans who had moved South after the Civil War. Many white southerners called them carpetbaggers. Supposedly, they had rushed South… carrying all their possessions in bags made from carpeting. Many southerners resented these northerners, accusing them-often unfairly- of trying to profit from Reconstruction. Southern Democrats cared even less for white southern Republicans. They referred to them as scalawags, or greedy rascals. Democrats believed that these southerners had betrayed the South by voting for the Republican Party. Many southern Republicans were small farmers who had supported the Union during the war. Others, like Mississippi governor James Alcorn, were former members of the Whig Party. They preferred to become Republicans rather than join the Democrats. ( Full Answer )