The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

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). [U. S.]
   [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

carpetbagger
    n 1: an outsider who seeks power or success presumptuously;
         "after the Civil War the carpetbaggers from the north tried
         to take over the south"

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

25 Moby Thesaurus words for "carpetbagger":
   bunco artist, bunco steerer, cardsharp, cardsharper, con artist,
   con man, confidence man, crimp, horse coper, horse trader, jackleg,
   land pirate, land shark, land-grabber, mortgage shark, pettifogger,
   pitchman, shark, sharp, sharper, sharpie, shortchanger, shyster,
   slicker, spieler