Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Carpetbagger \Car"pet*bag`ger\, n.
   An adventurer; -- a term of contempt for a Northern man
   seeking private gain or political advancement in the southern
   part of the United States after the Civil War (1865)

Source : WordNet®

carpetbagger
     n : an outsider who seeks power or success presumptuously;
         "after the Civil War the carpetbaggers from the north
         tried to take over the south"