Question

What is a carpetbagger?

A. A northern Republican who participated in state conventions in the South
B. A Northern white who agreed with the abolishment of slavery
C. A southern white who supported Reconstruction
D. Someone who had betrayed the United States during the Civil War

Answer 1

The most fitting answer is A.

After the American civil war, some Northerners moved over to the South during the Reconstruction period of 1865 - 1877. Many of these newcomers to the South usually carried a form of cheap luggage bags called carpet bags. White Southerners did not trust their intentions and nick named them carpetbaggers, a term that was used with a derogatory intent.

"Carpetbaggers" in general supported measures aimed at democratizing and modernizing the South and about 60 of them were elected to congress and included a majority of Republican governors in the South during the reconstruction period.