But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! 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. [17], Union General Adelbert Ames, a native of Maine, was appointed military governor and later was elected as Republican governor of Mississippi during the Reconstruction era. However, the Republican Party inside each state was increasingly torn between the more conservative scalawags on one side and the more Radical carpetbaggers with their black allies on the other. They wanted their own land to farm and believed they had already paid for land by their years of uncompensated labor and the trials of slavery. 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 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. [34][35][36], In 1873 the state passed a civil rights law. By 1890, they controlled 88% of the mileage; 47% of the directors were from the North. "[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. There he was assigned to Galveston as an agent and teacher for the Freedmen's Bureau. answered expert verified The term carpetbagger was a nickname for Southerners who worked to repeal African American voting rights laws. Without a speedy reformation I will have to resign my post. New York: McGraw Hill, 2002. Engagement in Republican politics was an outgrowth of that pursuit. [40] SUNY Press. Ideographs, or symbolic terms so resonant with political imagery and meaning as to influence political action, include words like carpetbagger and scalawag. They were given this name because most people who would arrive in the South from the North carried luggage made of carpet, thus the term "Carpetbagger." The bitter Civil War in the United States left the country physically destroyed. Chamberlain was said to justify white supremacy by arguing that, in evolutionary terms, the Negro obviously belonged to an inferior social order. [28] While serving in South Carolina, Chamberlain was a strong supporter of Negro rights. What's the difference between a carpetbagger and a scalawag? - History Updates? Other Americans, such as teachers and Freedman's Bureau workers, moved to the south to aid newly freedmen. The bitterness and hate created by the late civil strife has, in my opinion, been obliterated in this state, except perhaps in some localities, and would have long since been entirely obliterated, were it not for some unprincipled men who would keep alive the bitterness of the past, and inculcate a hatred between the races, in order that they may aggrandize themselves by office, and its emoluments, to control my people, the effect of which is to degrade them. 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. During his term, he adopted a policy of "fusion", a post-Reconstruction power-sharing compromise between Populist Democrats and Republicans. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. Planters whose properties occupied prime riverfront locations relied on river transportation, but smaller farmers in the backcountry suffered. This led many building societies to implement anti-carpetbagging policies, such as not accepting new deposits from customers who lived outside the normal operating area of the society. Carpetbaggers moved to southern states for economic, political, and social opportunities; Scalawags were politically motivated. But far too much was wrongly or unwisely spent" to aid the Republican Party leadership. Term was originally a very bitter insult leveled at northerners who ventured into the defeated South. Watch acclaimed Black History documentaries on HISTORY Vault. The term came to be associated with opportunism and exploitation by outsiders. For other uses, see. To White southern Democrats, scalawags were perhaps even worse than carpetbaggers, as they were viewed as betraying their own people. d B. Vietnam is c Escott concludes that some Democrats were involved, but Republicans "bore the main responsibility for the issue of $28 million in state bonds for railroads and the accompanying corruption. [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. [37] He returned to Arkansas in 1888, setting up practice as a lawyer. Carpetbagger | History, Significance, & Facts | Britannica Beginning in 1867, they formed a coalition with carpetbaggers (one-sixth of the electorate) and scalawags (one-fifth) to gain control of southern state legislatures for the Republican Party. 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. Active in the Republican Party and elected as a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 18681869, Ruby was later elected as a Texas state senator and had wide influence. All Rights Reserved. But "carpetbagger" did not merely mean someone who traveled and carried a carpetbag. April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee of the Confederacy surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant of the Union; the U.S. Civil War was over. Most were former Union soldiers eager to invest their savings and energy in this promising new frontier, and civilians lured south by press reports of "the fabulous sums of money to be made in the South in raising cotton." Others invested in businesses or banks. Fast Facts: Carpetbagger Political term arose during Reconstruction and became widespread.
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