CARPETBAGGERS AND SCALAWAGS

And the roosters who ruled in the old southern days,
The
aristocrat planters with their high haughty ways,
Were loathe to accept the fate which befell 'em
-- Indeed, times had changed; 'twas not
antebellum!

The former leaders were shunned, their power now taken
By eager new beavers who left the South shaken,
Grabbing hold of the jobs the war's path did create:
To repair and rebuild and to law reinstate.

A great many were Yanks with hopes for quick cash
-- Much despised, truth be told, for their manners so brash.
As they came toting plans of great riches from rags
Packed in with their clothes in their cheap
carpetbags.

Who made a bee-line for Dixie where things were abuzz,
Luring people in swarms -- the way wealth often does.
And so railroads were laid, schools and hospitals built,
They were strenuous days, efforts maxed to the hilt.

Of course, carpetbaggers were not alone in their tracks;
Many southerners too gave the Old South their backs,
As they looked to the future and decided to aid
In the changes to life and end to slavery bade.

Ah, but born in those climes, having saluted those flags,
They were traitors to many and called
scalawags.
A nickname for horses, the ones scruffy and runt,
'Twas a show of disdain, one quite nasty and blunt.

For the shatter of battle left a field of glass shards,
With cuts and deep gashes, alas, held in the cards,
As a long racist past brought a battle for hearts
-- Whilst the newly
freedmen set off on fresh starts.

Indeed, the first stumbling steps on a road hard and long
-- Though with chins proudly raised and hearing liberty's song.
Since to work for oneself and to vote and be heard,
Was the birth of great dreams, a birth too long deferred...
















Worksheet # 75
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