White southerners generally believed that the goal of northerners moving south during Reconstruction was to dominate the region politically, economically, and socially. They viewed these "carpetbaggers" as opportunistic adventurers seeking personal gain and power. Additionally, they saw the northern presence as an imposition of radical Republican policies, including the enforcement of civil rights for freed slaves. Many white southerners perceived the influx of northerners as a threat to their way of life and a continuation of the perceived northern aggression during the Civil War.
