Carpetbaggers and Scalawags were figures that came about from the tensions flared as the struggles for local control pocked Republicans against the Democrats. The Democrats were also known as conservatives and it was this party who labeled their white Republican opponents as either scalawags or carpetbaggers. The Scalawags were the southern whites who supported Reconstruction. They joined a coalition with Freedmen, blacks who were former slaves. They developed to be the most despised group. A small amount of scalawags were prominent landowners. Others saw in the Republican Party an opportunity to revolutionize southern society by building factories and workshops. Many expected whites to control the process, along with not expressing any concern for black rights. Aside from the few scalawags who were prominent landowners others were non- slaveholding white farmers. Many scalawags took regional and local political offices in the South, taking advantage of the openings left by Confederate members who the government striped from taking office. They made fast enemies with the large population of Southerners. The Ku Klux Klan, adopted scalawag as a offensive nickname; the term had previously been used to refer to bad livestock. Over time, scalawag became less of an insult and more of an appearing political term.
Carpetbaggers came from the North and they too were all whites. Most carpetbaggers were investors in railroads or Union soldiers who remained in the region after the war was over. They came to the North to aid in the Reconstruction process. Not all of the Carpetbaggers were men, hundreds of daring northern women came south to teach in the public schools.
The Democrats accused Republicans of corruption. They also described how the Republicans politics revolved around personal financial gain. In the early Reconstruction period, the scalawags made up a large majority of the population in Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Throughout the region, they composed an important small group, because they were in many respects the swing vote between the almost equally divided blacks who voted overwhelmingly Republican and the rest of the southern whites, who were Democratic.Scalawags and Carpetbaggers shared the common interest with revitalizing the South and bringing industry and inventiveness to southern economic life. Even though disagreements were formed at times between the two groups it benefited them. A sophisticated picture gradually emerged of the identity and political behavior of Southern Republicans. Carpetbagger and Scalawag were main components of the Counter Reconstruction worldview.
Sarah Wallace
Carpetbaggers and Scalawags were figures that came about from the tensions flared as the struggles for local control pocked Republicans against the Democrats. The Democrats were also known as conservatives and it was this party who labeled their white Republican opponents as either scalawags or carpetbaggers. The Scalawags were the southern whites who supported Reconstruction. They joined a coalition with Freedmen, blacks who were former slaves. They developed to be the most despised group. A small amount of scalawags were prominent landowners. Others saw in the Republican Party an opportunity to revolutionize southern society by building factories and workshops. Many expected whites to control the process, along with not expressing any concern for black rights. Aside from the few scalawags who were prominent landowners others were non- slaveholding white farmers. Many scalawags took regional and local political offices in the South, taking advantage of the openings left by Confederate members who the government striped from taking office. They made fast enemies with the large population of Southerners. The Ku Klux Klan, adopted scalawag as a offensive nickname; the term had previously been used to refer to bad livestock. Over time, scalawag became less of an insult and more of an appearing political term.
Carpetbaggers came from the North and they too were all whites. Most carpetbaggers were investors in railroads or Union soldiers who remained in the region after the war was over. They came to the North to aid in the Reconstruction process. Not all of the Carpetbaggers were men, hundreds of daring northern women came south to teach in the public schools.
The Democrats accused Republicans of corruption. They also described how the Republicans politics revolved around personal financial gain. In the early Reconstruction period, the scalawags made up a large majority of the population in Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Throughout the region, they composed an important small group, because they were in many respects the swing vote between the almost equally divided blacks who voted overwhelmingly Republican and the rest of the southern whites, who were Democratic.Scalawags and Carpetbaggers shared the common interest with revitalizing the South and bringing industry and inventiveness to southern economic life. Even though disagreements were formed at times between the two groups it benefited them. A sophisticated picture gradually emerged of the identity and political behavior of Southern Republicans. Carpetbagger and Scalawag were main components of the Counter Reconstruction worldview.
secondary source:
http://www.history.com/topics/carpetbaggers-and-scalawags
primary source:
http://www.1898wilmington.com/TheCarpetbaggers.shtml