Redemption was the point of view taken by ex-Confederates that saw the new leaders of Reconstruction as Northern "carpetbaggers" who needed to be ousted. They believed that the South, as it is said, would "rise again". We could call them a lot of other things - we could say that they were recalcitrant, that they were unreformed, or arguably, that they were even traitors to the unified Nation. But certainly, using a different set of language would make sense, because there was nothing "redeemed" about these people.
