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1 American usage

In the United States, the derisive term carpetbagger was used to refer to a Northerner who traveled to the South after the American Civil War, through the late 1860s and the 1870s, during Reconstruction. They went south to exploit the power vacuum created by the end of the American Civil War when the Confederate States (see: Confederate States of America, U.S. Southern states) were placed under martial law. The carpet-bagging Yankees typically intended to gain political or financial advantage, commonly perceived by native Southerners as being at the expense of the native Southerners, many of whom were as former Confederates were deprived of political power due to Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The South was devastated as a result of the war. Due to resentment toward the carpetbaggers during Reconstruction, Southerners clung to the sentiment "The South will rise again!", which is actually still common among some white people from the South.

Carpetbaggers are not to be confused with scalawags, who were southern sympathizers with the Republican Party.

Carpetbaggers were so named after the habit of carrying belongings in a carpet bag . Since many Southern business and political leaders were ousted from their positions as a result of the war, there was much personal gain to be found by travelling South, and many of these carpetbaggers became mayors, governors, and businessHistorically, the term business referred to activities or interests. By extension the word became (as recently as the 18th century) synonymous with an individual commercial enterprise. It has also taken on the more general meaning of a nexus of commercial leaders.

Today, the word is still used to describe "an outsider who moves someplace to exploit the natives and enrich himself at their expense," or "a politician who moves to another state for political reasons, such as ease of election."

2 UK usage

Carpetbagging was also used in the United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a state in Western Europe, usually known simply as the United Kingdom the UK Britain or less accurately as Great Britain . The UK was formed by a series of Acts of Union which united the formerly in the 1990s during the wave of flotations of building societiesBuilding society was the name given in 19th century Britain for working men's co-operative savings groups: by pooling savings, members could buy or build their own homes. The societies were originally in two forms: terminating where they would be dissolve (mutuals), the term indicating the advocates of these conversions. Investors in these mutuals would receive shares in the new public companies, usually distributed at a flat rate, thus equally benefiting small and large investors, and providing a broad incentive for members to vote for conversion-advocating (carpetbagging) leadership candidates. The word was first used in this context by the chief executive of one of the building societies under threat, who introduced rules removing new savers' entitlement to potential windfalls and stated in a press release, "I have no qualms about disenfranchising carpetbaggers."

Major building societies which converted included Northern RockNorthern Rock is a British bank based in Newcastle Upon Tyne in Northern England. Formerly named the Northern Rock Building Society the bank was formed in 1997 when the society floated on the London Stock Exchange, distributing shares to its members who h, Halifax, Bradford and BingleyBradford and Bingley plc is a British bank headquartered in the Yorkshire town of Bingley. It was formed by the floatation of the former Bradford and Bingley Building Society in 1999. Previously, as a building society, the Bradford and Bingley was owned b and Woolwich .

For the Harold RobbinsHarold Robbins (originally Harold Rubin ( May 21, 1916 October 14 1997) was an American author. Born in New York City, Harold Robbins spent his childhood in an orphanage. He was educated at George Washington High School and after leaving school he worked novel, see The Carpetbaggers. Here, the word has the generic meaning of a presumptuous newcomer who enters a new territory seeking success. In this case, the territory is the movie industry, and the newcomer is a wealthy heir to an industrial fortune who, like Howard Hughes, simultaneously pursued aviation and moviemaking avocations.