subs. used attributively as adj. (American).—See CARPET-BAGGER for explanation of such phrases as CARPET-BAG rule, CARPET-BAG adventurers, CARPET-BAG government, etc.
1872. New York Herald, 22 Aug. Hundreds of millions have been taken from the pockets of the people since the beginning of the war by dishonest contractors, unjust claimants, county robbers, and city plunderers, and CARPET-BAG State Governments. Ibid. The Tammany robberies, although trifling in comparison with the old revenue robberies, and the present wholesale plunder of the CARPET-BAG Governments in the South, etc.
1888. Chicago Record. The head of the ticket is one of the most vulnerable men who figured in Southern politics in the CARPET-BAG era. No man of that period left a blacker record.
