White Southerners believed that the goals of all Northerners who moved south during Reconstruction were to exploit the chaos and instability in the region for their own gain. They viewed them as opportunists seeking to take advantage of the situation and advance their own economic and political interests at the expense of the South. Additionally, they viewed these Northerners as supporters of the Republican Party and the federal government, which they believed were intent on subjugating and punishing the South for its role in the Civil War.
