Carpet Baggers And Scalawags

48 scalawags were members of the 1867 constitutional convention 49 5 of the republican membership.

Carpet baggers and scalawags. A temporary political vacuum existed in the postwar south. The term carpetbagger was used by opponents of reconstruction the period. Confederate military and political leaders were temporarily prohibited from participating in the political process. Carpetbaggers reconsidered in a festschrift for frederick b.

And seven scalawags were members of the 1875 constitutional convention 58 of the minuscule. During and immediately after the civil war many northerners headed to the southern states driven by hopes of economic gain a desire to work on behalf of the newly. Artz edited by david h. However fewer scalawags won nominations to federal offices.

Republican governments filled the void and were able to retain control by depending upon the votes of the newly enfranchised blacks. 15 were nominated or elected to congress 48 compared to 11 carpetbaggers and 5 blacks. Following the american civil war if someone called you a carpetbagger or scalawag it wasn t meant as a compliment. Scalawags were white southerners who supported the republican party carpetbaggers were recent arrivals in the region from the north and freedmen were freed slaves.

Oxford university press 1988. Although carpetbagger and scalawag were originally terms of opprobrium they are now commonly used in the scholarly literature to refer to these classes of people.