CarpetBagger

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Have you ever heard of the term "Carpetbagger?" Most people in this year in time have never heard of the word carpetbag before. So today I'm going to be informing you on what a carpetbagger is and why it got that name. Carpetbagger is a derogatory term for an individual from the North who relocated to the South during the Reconstruction period from the year 1865 to 1877. The Reconstruction period was the period following the Civil War that acted as a time where the United States of America kept trying to keep the Union and the South as one country. The reason why 'Carpetbaggers' went to the Confederate states is that they needed significant capital investment, and there were financial opportunities that didn’t exist in the North. 

Making fast money was on a carpetbagger's mind and finding ways to make that money also applied was just the start. An example of a financial opportunity for them was buying land in the South for a very good deal and then sometimes leasing the land. Another example is investing in small businesses such as banks at the time.
The reason why carpetbaggers are called carpetbaggers is that they were said to be able to fit all their belongings in one large carpetbag and go off. During this period carpetbags sold out almost everywhere because everyone was moving to different states. They were often compared to jews for being money hungry and trying to make every cent they could. Similar to a carpetbagger is a scalwag which was just someone from the South going to the North to look for finical opportunities.

 
   
The carpetbaggers were not well-liked due to most of them being Union soldiers and coming into a Confederate state was not the most ideal situation. However, there were many Political opportunities for them such as becoming high up in the office. Something that helped them to succeed was when the federal government banned former Confederate leaders and military from voting. Helping the carpetbaggers win most of the elections in the South was a big help to the minorities such as black people and different races. They were most of the time in political offices (no surprise) in the South because the Confederates were limited to running and voting. The people however living in the South weren't too friendly to carpetbaggers. They would call them names and sometimes even physically hurt them. The reason why the Confederates did this was that they viewed them as exploiters who only wanted to gain personal riches from the South and they thought they didn't really care for growing the country.

Carpetbaggers also backed the Republican party which was the party of Lincoln. One of the positive impacts left behind by the carpetbaggers was creating a statewide public school system. Some of the carpetbaggers taught newly freed African Americans how to read and write. Doing this however made a group not too happy. That being the Ku Klux clan, which targeted carpetbaggers just because of their efforts in supporting racial equality.