Abstract
The epithet "carpetbagger" holds such a solid place in the vocabulary of American history that it would be difficult to describe the nation’s Reconstruction experience without utilizing it. In 1868, the editors of a Pensacola newspaper expressed the attitude towards “carpetbaggers” which prevailed among white Southerners. “While crushed beneath a grinding military despotism, hireling spies and impudent adventurers have swarmed upon . . . [us] taking a despicable advantage of . . . [our] weakness, misfortunes and suffering to traduce, vilify and malign . . . [us]. . . . Upstarts, without name, character or position in their own land, have, with the aid of military power, imposed upon . . . [the South] an odious government, and foisted themselves into office and power as . . . rulers.“
Recommended Citation
Fryman, Mildred L.
(1977)
"Career of a "Carpetbagger": Malachi Martin in Florida,"
Florida Historical Quarterly: Vol. 56:
No.
3, Article 6.
Available at:
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq/vol56/iss3/6
