What is a carpet bagger?

Question

I was watching Gone With the Wind the other day and this term cropped up!

Answer 1

Most of the answers have correctly described how the term was USED -- but unfortunately they also seem to have simply accepted the viewpoint it expresses.

Note the source -- you say you heard it in "Gone with the Wind". Not surprisingly, because this was a term coined by those in the South who opposed these people. It DOES express a popular stereotype about them that grew up in the South (then spread to the North) but that doesn't mean it's entirely accurate!

Of course, SOME of these folks were indeed corrupt. In such a large group in a time of upheaval, it's hardly surprising that some were just opportunists. But studies since have shown that the vast majority were NOT like that. (Also, those who joined Southern governments during this period were, as a group, involved in LESS corruption than others of this period!)

They came for a variety of reasons --some for profit (some honest, some not), others for personal reasons, for a challenge or the idealistic hope of doing something good. Some soldiers returned because they'd found something in the region attractive (including some who came to marry Southern girls they'd met). Many came to assist with programs to help the newly freed slaves adjust to their new life. An especially important group was those who set up new SCHOOLS to educate the children of newly freed slaves.
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Here is a more balanced description of this group --

"During Reconstruction of the South after the Civil War, federal troops protected the right of freedmen to vote. Black voters helped elect Republican state governments and sent Republican candidates—both white and black—to the House of Representatives and Senate from the Southern states. Many of these Southern Republicans were Northerners who had moved to the South after the war. Southern Democrats denounced them as “carpetbaggers,” after the carpet-fabric bags in which many of these newcomers brought their belongings to the South. Among the carpetbaggers were some corrupt opportunists, but others wanted to rebuild the South and to help the freedmen during the transition from slavery to freedom."
http://www.answers.com/topic/carpetbagger
(see the "U.S. Government Guide" entry)

If you want to see a more detailed study of the carpetbaggers --what they were REALLY like (both good and bad)-- check out Richard Nelson Current's book *Those Terrible Carpetbaggers : A Reinterpretation* (1988), which does a nice job looking at the actual people, and debunking the myths.
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Incidentally, the "ruling elite" of white Southerners before the War, and again after Reconstruction (ended 1877) had a SIMILAR view of freed blacks and of Southern whites who went along with the Northern/Republican efforts. This group of whites they labeled "scalawags", and suggested they were somehow traitors. In fact, MOST of them had been ardent Unionists before and during the war (including old time Southern Whigs), who had OPPOSED secession. Oddly, many who today recognize how unfair (and racist) the accusations against freed blacks were, have not stopped to consider that the stereotypes of "scalawags" and "carpetbaggers" may have been just as questionable.

Answer 2

"Carpetbaggers" was coined from the carpet bags used as inexpensive luggage. It was originally a derogatory term, suggesting an exploiter who does not plan to stay. Although the term is still an insult in common usage, in histories and reference works it is now used without derogatory intent. Since 1900 the term has also been used to describe outsiders attempting to gain political office or economic advantage, especially in areas (thematically or geographically) to which they previously had no connection.

Answer 3

In politics, someone who moves to a state (or city/district) just so they can run for office there.

The implication is that they are not truly from there and their interest is really not with the people they will be representing.
It is a derogatory term, with origins in the Civil War. It's what they called a Northerner who went to the South after the war for political or financial advantage.

The name, Carpetbagger, is a contemptuous term with reference to the luggage they used in traveling light.

Answer 4

The original carpet baggers were unscrupulous and ruthless real-estate men who took advantage of the impoverished Southern states immediately after the civil war to buy up land at bargain prices. They travelled around, and the name refers to the large travelling bags, made from carpet material, that travelling businessmen used at the time.
The term has come to mean any underhanded business person who forces a disadvantageous deal onto someone.

Answer 5

In United States history, carpetbaggers was the term southerners gave to northerners who moved to the South during the Reconstruction era, between 1865 and 1877. They formed a coalition with freedmen (freed slaves), and scalawags (southern whites who supported Reconstruction) in the Republican Party. Together they politically controlled former Confederate states for varying periods, 1867–1877.

Answer 6

It's commonly used to describe a person who travels somewhere to take advantage of some situation for personal gain. It was first used in this context when Northerners went South after the Civil War to take advantage of reconstruction efforts for personal gain.

In those days a carpetbag was the equivalent of a suitcase.

Answer 7

Further to Neni's answer, which is correct, the reason such a "professional" politician was given this name was because he was prepared to move around the country (USA) until he found a cushy political post, he had to carry his possessions around with him - in a large "carpetbag." Definition in Oxford Dictionary - "travelling bag, originally made of a carpet-like material.

Answer 8

A carpet bagger is a confidence trickster (con artist).

Answer 9

What Is A Carpetbagger

Answer 10

Unfortunately, your other answers are incorrect.
A 'Carpetbagger' was an early pioneer crossing the USA in a wagon train and taking with them all their worldly possessions wrapped up in a small carpet. In effect, turning it into a 'bag'. Any history book of the early pioneers will confirm this.