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Carpetbaggers And Scalawags After The Civil War

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Wesley Miller Ms. Trahan 8th Grade English 21 March 2017 Carpetbaggers and Scalawags Reconstruction was a historical time period following the United States Civil War. Most of the South after the Civil War was destroyed. Plantations and crops were damaged or completely destroyed. The South needed to rebuild and recover from the devastation. Reconstruction was meant to help the South become better and join back into the Union after war. Two groups played a big part during Reconstruction. They were called the carpetbaggers and the scalawags. They played a big role because they give an example of what was going on with some of the people during that time and how they reacted (Carpetbaggers, A&E Networks). The carpetbaggers played a big role …show more content…

The help the South they moved north to join Abraham Lincoln’s party, the Republicans. Some scalawags were business people. They South did not like the scalawags because they were considered traitors since they moved South to be Republicans and help Reconstruction. Scalawags was a term that was meant to describe a scruffy horse or small or worthless livestock. The Scalawags wanted to end slavery and forget about war. Some scalawags were even above the board and help non-slave holding farms. Scalawag was a term before the Civil War but they used it to describe them because the South did not like them only because they were doing what they believed in and what they thought was right. Some scalawags just joined the Republican party to gain money but most did it because they wanted to end slavery and war and to rebuild the South. The scalawags stood for what they believed in and what they thought was right (Carpetbaggers, A&E …show more content…

For example, the carpetbaggers moved south for what they thought was a good reason and the scalawags moved north for what they thought was a good reason. Both of these groups played a very important role in Reconstruction. Both groups give us a good idea of what some people were doing during that time and an idea of the beliefs of people living in the North and in the South. They are also both criticized and made fun of for what they were doing. For instance, the carpetbaggers were given their name because they were poor and could fit all of the stuff they owned in cheap suitcases or homemade bags made of cheap carpet. The scalawags were given their name because they were looked down upon and made fun of because they were traitors to the South and scalawag meant animal or scruffy horse which was their way of letting them know that they thought the scalawags were just annoying animals (Carpetbaggers, A&E Networks; Carpetbaggers, Boundless.com; Davidson and

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