carpetbaggers and::The nation had quite nearly just destroyed itself from the inside out in the bloodiest, costliest war the united states had fought up until this point carpetbaggers and

carpetbaggers and

carpetbaggers and

carpetbaggers and::The nation had quite nearly just destroyed itself from the inside out in the bloodiest, costliest war the united states had fought up until this point.
The south, where most of the fighting had taken place, lay devastated by the war, both financially and physically.
As soon as the war ended, in november of 1865, reconstruction began.
It was a complicated time, full of important political characters, healthy debate, corruption, greed and goodwill alike.
The entire nation had changed forever, and it was during these decades that it was decided whether this change would be for better or for worse.
After the war, one of the conditions of the surrender of the confederacy was that thousands of exconfederate politicians throughout the south were to step down from their places of privilege and power.
This left many openings all over the land for new political prospects to come in and take over.
These peripatetic settlers were known throughout the nation as carpetbaggers.
The name is said to have come from the fact that many of them carried all their belongings in carpetbags as sort of a cheap form of luggage.
This resulted in a great deal of negative feelings between all of the different parties scheming for control of the south during reconstruction, and served to make what was already a complicated period even more so.
It is difficult to decide, looking back on the period, whether carpetbaggers caused more harm than good, or if they were in fact able to effect some change here and there in the south.
Either way, they played an important part in the history of the south and in reconstruction, and their legacy remains to this day.
These politicians are also known frequently as parachute candidates, as they seem to parachute in from foreign lands to lay claim to opportunity.
The term is also often used to describe companies who enter into war or disaster zones in order to capitalize on the government contracts and opportunities there.
There have been several examples of this analogy being used in events of recent years.