Scrabble?! CARPETBAGGERY

Definitions of CARPETBAGGERY in various dictionaries:

In the history of the United States, a carpetbagger was any person from the Northern United States who came to the Southern states after the American Civil War and was perceived to be exploiting the local populace. The term broadly included both individuals who sought to promote Republican politics (which favored, among other things, better treatment of freedmen), and those individuals who saw business opportunities because of the chaotic state of the local economies following the war. In practice, the term carpetbagger was often applied to any Northerner who was present in the South during the Reconstruction Era (1863–1877). White Southerners commonly denounced carpetbaggers collectively during the post-war years, fearing they would loot and plunder the defeated South and be politically allied with the Radical Republicans. Many of their fears regarding the influence of the carpetbaggers came to fruition. Sixty men from the North, including educated free blacks and slaves who had escaped to the North and returned South after the war, were elected as Republicans to Congress. The majority of Republican governors in the South during Reconstruction were from the North. Historian Eric Foner argues: ... most carpetbaggers probably combine the desire for personal gain with a commitment to taking part in an effort "to substitute the civilization of freedom for that of slavery". ... Carpetbaggers generally supported measures aimed at democratizing and modernizing the South – civil rights legislation, aid to economic development, the establishment of public school systems.