A pejorative term to describe outsiders taking advantage of a situation where others would normally be expected to benefit. A carpet bag was a fashionable form of luggage of the time used by northern “Yankees”, political appointees or businessmen, who moved down to southern states during the American post-Civil War Reconstruction era taking advanta [..]

also carpet-bagger, 1868, American English, scornful appellation for Northerners who went South after the fall of the CSA seeking private gain or political advancement. The name is based on the image [..]

A Northerner who went to the South after the Civil War to profit financially or politically from the conditions during Reconstruction. The term "carpetbagger" comes from the carpet bags that travelers carried, which were inexpensive suitcases made of carpet.

(n) an outsider who seeks power or success presumptuously

(politics,history|chiefly|US) An immigrant from the Northern to the Southern States after the American Civil War of 1861–5, especially one who went South to gain political influence; hence, someone [..]