Define Carpetbagger

Carpetbagger definition is a northerner in the south after the american civil war usually seeking private gain under the reconstruction governments.

Define carpetbagger.

Someone who tries to be elected as a politician in a place away from their home because they. After the civil war the carpetbaggers from the north tried to take over the south opportunist self seeker a person who places expediency above principle based on wordnet 3 0 farlex clipart collection. Carpetbagger an outsider who seeks power or success presumptuously. The term carpetbagger used exclusively as a pejorative term originated from the carpet bags a form of cheap luggage made from carpet fabric which many of these newcomers carried.

A politician who takes up residence in a place and runs for office without having strong ties to the area. A northerner who went to the south after the civil war and became active in republican politics especially so as to profiteer from the unsettled social and political conditions of the area during reconstruction.