Scalawags, << SKAL uh wagz, >> were white Southerners active in the Republican Party during Reconstruction (1865-1877), the period that followed the American Civil War. The Republican Party had Northern origins and favored giving formerly enslaved Black Americans the right to vote. Southern Democrats who opposed change in the South used the term scalawag to ridicule white Southern Republicans, whom they regarded as traitors to their region and race.
After the war, the federal government required the Southern States to organize new state governments and allow Black men to vote. As a result, the Republicans won control of every new Southern state government.
White Southerners who supported the Republican Party were hardly the social outcasts their Democratic enemies claimed they were. Some were experienced politicians who had opposed the war. Others represented poor white farmers who wanted to reduce the power of wealthy plantation owners. Still others were business leaders who hoped Republicans would introduce manufacturing and railroads to lessen Southern dependence on agriculture.
To succeed in the South, the Republicans had to develop a large following among white Southerners. But they failed to do so, partly because of the abuse and social isolation inflicted on them. By the end of 1877, the Republicans had lost control of all the Southern state governments.
