carpetbaggers

1. Northerners who went to the South after the Civil War to take part in Reconstruction governments, when persons who had supported the Confederacy were not allowed to hold public office ( see Fourteenth Amendment ). Some of them arrived, according to legend, carrying only one carpetbag, which symbolized their lack of permanent interest in the place they pretended to serve.

Notes

Carpetbagger is still a general term for nonresident politicians who exploit their districts.

Example Sentences

And you had the carpetbaggers and all that, but as occupations go, it wasn't so brutal.

From The Daily Beast

Carpetbaggers already in situ to cash in on the wasted and exhausted city.

From The Daily Beast

These days, country music is filled with country carpetbaggers.

From The Daily Beast

One was the radical carpetbaggers, and the other conservative.

From Project Gutenberg

Joe, soon after this, decided to stay in the carpetbaggers' city and take the agency of a large insurance company.

From Project Gutenberg

The other Federal departments were in similar difficulties, and at last women and "carpetbaggers" were appointed.

From Project Gutenberg

New appointments were nearly always carpetbaggers and native radicals who could take the "ironclad" oath.

From Project Gutenberg

Resentment at the methods employed by the Northern religious carpetbaggers was strong among the Southern whites.

From Project Gutenberg