Carpetbaggers

=Carpetbaggers=



During of the Reconstruction the South was in a very defenseless state. The people of the south were poor and in need of help. There was a lack of buildings like schools and hospitals and the people's moral was at an all time low. However things for North were not as dire as their counterparts in the South. This led to people from the North wanting to travel and assist the South in anyway they could, or to take advantage.

A term of contempt given to those who traveled to the South to take advantage of the already deprived South was 'carpetbagger'. The term, given to them by southerners, refers to the fact that the Northerners who came to the South could fit all of their belongings in a simple satchel bag (as shown above). Most of the carpetbaggers saw the wounded South as an exploitable location to set up ways of scamming the people who were looking for something to believe in. Throughout history this is common, people taking advantage of other peoples misfortune to advance their own agendas. However there were some 'carpetbaggers' who had honest intentions.

Some of the northerners that wanted to see the South back on it's feet, in particularly the recently freed slaves, were ones who came from the Freedmen's Bureau. They came and improved things like education in the South and helped to stabilize the government. Some even took positions in the government and campaigned for the rights of the freed slaves. Carpetbaggers like this became more common as the South slowly got back on its feet. People like this have also been seen throughout history. Those who selflessly give their time and effort in support of people who need it most.

In a large sense the carpetbaggers were both a problem but ultimately helpful for the south. The greedy men who went to the South in search of making it rich at the expense of the southern people showed the problem with people in society and the greed of man, and those that would still try to hold our nation back from coming together. While the carpetbaggers who went to help showed the country that there were those who wanted to assist the down-on-their-luck southerners and also fought to break racial barriers, laying the seeds for a major movement that would follow years later.

While at fist a name given to men who had dreams of striking it rich off the hurting south, the 'carpetbaggers' from the North ended up helping the South in ways no one could have imagined. In a time of need they came, self-less and moral, to do what they can to see this country reach its potential. Even though they weren't helpful to the Reconstruction of the South, the original carpetbaggers were also a major part of history, their images being in depicted in political cartoons for history to see (like above). For better or worse, the 'carpetbaggers' of the North had a big impact on the south, and ultimately the entire Reconstruction.

Works Cited

//Carpetbagger//. N.d. Photograph. Plattsburg State Art Museum, n.p.

//Early USA History (Unit III_2)//. Alomani, 05 Oct. 1999. Web. 08 June 2009. .

"The Carpetbagger - Civil War - Brief History of Carpetbags and Carpetbaggers." //The Carpetbagger - Civil War - Authentic Carpetbags - Purses - Handbags - Travel Bags - Haversacks - Knitting Bags//. Web. 05 June 2009. 