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Scalawag is thought variously to derive from the name Scallaway of Scotland's Shetland Islands, or from an obsolete Scots word scallag, "a farm servant." Its first recorded appearance in the United States is understood to be 1848, with the spelling scalaway. In western New York State a scalaway meant "a mean rascal." During Reconstruction a scalawag referred to a Caucasian southern operative who assisted the federal government in implementing its policies throughout the South, often profiteering in the process. But its earlier political meaning, first recorded in 1862, was "an intriguer, especially in politics."
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