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William Leggett

& the . William Leggett. Locofoco Paradigm. By: Anthony Comegna. Overview. Leggett & his Locofocos Leggett’s Thought: Democracy Radical Anti-monopoly Radical Laissez-faire Radical antislavery The Locofoco Paradigm Conclusion. Leggett & His Locofocos.

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William Leggett

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  1. & the William Leggett Locofoco Paradigm By: Anthony Comegna

  2. Overview • Leggett & his Locofocos • Leggett’s Thought: • Democracy • Radical Anti-monopoly • Radical Laissez-faire • Radical antislavery • The Locofoco Paradigm • Conclusion

  3. Leggett & His Locofocos • Jacksonian editor of the New York Evening Post. • Undisputed intellectual founder of the Locofoco Party. • Locofoco=friction match • Party platform: equity under the law, or “Equal Rights.”

  4. Leggett’s Thought: Democracy • Not an end in itself, but a means to greater liberty • Politicians, too, are mere means, not ends • Democracy is incompatible with managed markets and slavery

  5. Leggett’s Thought: Anti-Monopoly • Opposed the granting of corporate charters • Opposed public enterprises (public ferries, docks, wharves, piers, schools, asylums, coinage, banking, etc.) • Worst Monopoly: National & State Banks! • Opposed “Intellectual Property”

  6. Leggett’s Thought: Laissez-faire! • Direct Taxes • Absolute minimum (i.e. practically no) government regulation of the market • Free Banking!!! • Private coinage • Radical localism—care for the poor, sick, and uneducated

  7. Leggett’s Thought: Antislavery • Began writing career as lukewarm slavery apologist • Steady radicalization • Culminated in: • Immediatism • Favored Enfranchisement • Northern Abolitionism(!)

  8. The Locofoco Paradigm • An intellectual-political movement favoring free markets, liberty-expanding politics, and antislavery activism • Directly Formulated by William Leggett • Extended, through Leggett, from the Locofoco party of NY into the Van Buren administration • Directly led to the Jacksonian creation of the Free Soil party in the wake of the 1844 election.

  9. Conclusion: Paradigmatic Clashes & Historical Consequences • Election of 1844—Calhounism v. Van Burenism • An electoral triumph for the quasi-free market, pro-slavery Calhounist paradigm • Split the Democrat and Whig parties, creating the Free Soil Party. • Free Soil agitation ignited North-South conflicts over slavery • Free Soilers spill into Republican ranks… • 600,000+ dead

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