carpetbagger (redirected from carpetbaggery)

carpetbagger

Epithet used during the Reconstruction period (1865–77) to describe a Northerner in the South seeking private gain. The word referred to an unwelcome outsider arriving with nothing more than his belongings packed in a satchel or carpetbag. Many carpetbaggers were involved in corrupt financial schemes, but others helped rebuild the economy in the South and participated in educational and social reform.

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carpetbagger

1. a politician who seeks public office in a locality where he has no real connections

2. US a Northern White who went to the South after the Civil War to profit from Reconstruction