scalawag

scalawag
scalawaggery, n.scalawaggy, adj.
/skal"euh wag'/, n.
1. a scamp; rascal.
2. U.S. Hist. a native white Southerner who collaborated with the occupying forces during Reconstruction, often for personal gain. Also, scallywag; esp. Brit., scallawag.
[1840-50, Amer.; orig. uncert.]

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U.S. Southerner who supported Reconstruction.

Opponents also applied the pejorative term to those who joined with carpetbaggers and freedmen to support Republican Party policies. The term, of unknown origin, was used from the 1840s to denote a worthless farm animal and later a worthless person. Scalawags included former Whigs and hill-country farmers with Unionist sympathies and constituted nearly 20% of the white electorate after the American Civil War. Many held government positions in the South and advocated moderate reforms.

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▪ United States history
      in U.S. history, any Southerner who supported the federal plan of Reconstruction after the Civil War or who joined with the black freedman and the carpetbagger (q.v.) in support of Republican Party policies. The term is pejorative.

      Scalawags came from various segments of Southern society. In the Deep South many were apt to be former Whigs of the planter–merchant aristocracy. In the upper South they were often hill-country farmers whose sympathies during the war had been Unionist. Altogether, during the Reconstruction era, scalawags constituted perhaps 20 percent of the white electorate, a sizable force in any election or constitutional convention.

      The origin of the term is unclear, but it was known in the United States from at least the 1840s, at first denoting a worthless farm animal and then denoting a worthless person.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Scalawag — Scal a*wag, n. A scamp; a scapegrace. [Spelt also {scallawag}.] [Slang, U.S.] Bartlett. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Scalawag —   [ skælɪwæg; englisch, eigentlich »Kümmerling«; »Lump«] der, s/ s, in den USA Bezeichnung für die südstaatlichen Parteigänger (Republikaner) des siegreichen Nordens in der Periode der Reconstruction (1865 77); arbeiteten mit Schwarzen und… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • scalawag — (n.) disreputable fellow, 1848, American English, originally in trade union jargon, of uncertain origin, perhaps an alteration of Scottish scallag farm servant, rustic (by influence of wag habitual joker ). An early recorded sense was undersized… …   Etymology dictionary

  • scalawag — ☆ scalawag [skal′ə wag΄, skal′ēwag΄ ] n. [< ?] 1. Informal a scamp; rascal 2. a Southern white who supported the Republicans during the Reconstruction: an opprobrious term used by Southern Democrats …   English World dictionary

  • Scalawag — In the United States, a scalawag was a Southern white who joined the Republican Party in the ex Confederate South during Reconstruction. The term originally was pejorative and meant rascal , but is used descriptively in the 21st century by most… …   Wikipedia

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  • Scalawag — Der Begriff scalawag oder auch scallywag war ursprünglich ein Dialektausdruck der amerikanischen Südstaaten für minderwertiges Vieh. Nach der Niederlage der Konföderation im Bürgerkrieg wurden in den Südstaaten weiße Sympathisanten der… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Scalawag — El término scalawag se acuñó en los Estados Unidos en el siglo XIX, como una forma peyorativa de denominar a los blancos sureños que se unieron al Partido Republicano, después de la Guerra de Secesión, y que por lo tanto pudieron participar en… …   Wikipedia Español

  • scalawag — var. of SCALLYWAG. * * * scalawag variant of scallywag …   Useful english dictionary

  • scalawag — or scallywag noun Etymology: origin unknown Date: circa 1848 1. scamp, reprobate 2. a white Southerner acting in support of the reconstruction governments after the American Civil War often for private gain …   New Collegiate Dictionary

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