Scalawags were southern whites who supported Reconstruction and the Republican Party after the American Civil War. Samuel F. Phillips was perhaps the most famous scalawag.
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Scalawag
scalawags
It depended whether you were willing to work with the Republican government. If you were, you would be called a 'Scalawag'.
SCALAWAG was a post civil war, reconstruction era term of insult for a white southerner who supported reconstruction efforts. The word comes down through the English language with various meanings over time, such as "farm laborer", "disreputable fellow", "habitual jokster", and early definition uses it as "undersized or worthless animal".
A southerner who supported Republican reconstruction of the South was often called a scalawag.