Definition Of Carpetbaggers

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.

Definition of carpetbaggers.

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. The term is now used in the united states to refer to a parachute candidate that is an outsider who runs. A northerner who went to the south after the civil war for political or financial advantage. Carpetbagger synonyms carpetbagger pronunciation carpetbagger translation english dictionary definition of carpetbagger.

Carpetbagger derogatory term originally used in the u s. 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. Meaning pronunciation translations and examples. In the post us civil war south carpetbaggers were northerners who moved to the south to take advantage of the unstable social financial and political climate.

The term came to be associated with opportunism and exploitation by outsiders. If you call someone a carpetbagger you disapprove of them because they are trying to. During the reconstruction period 1865 77 to denote a northerner who moved to the south. A carpet bag by the way isn t a bag for carrying carpet but a.

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. They were called carpetbaggers to imply that they were such poor transient characters that they merely moved south carrying all their possessions in a carpet bag.