In United States history, scalawag was a moniker for southern whites who supported Reconstruction following the Civil War. History Scalawags formed a winning coalition with freedmen (blacks who were former slaves) and Northern newcomers (pejoratively labelled carpetbaggers) to take control of their state and local governments. Despite being a minority, they gained power by taking advantage of the Reconstruction laws of 1867 that disenfranchised (forbidding to vote or hold office) the majority of… (More on Scalawags)