<P> 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 for their own purposes . This broadly included both individuals who sought to promote Republican politics (which favored, among other things, racial integration), and individuals who saw unscrupulous 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). </P> <P> 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: </P>

Who were the carpetbaggers and why did they come south after the civil war
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