- Locofocos
The Locofocos were a radical faction of the Democratic Party that existed from
1835 until the mid-1840s.The faction was originally named Equal Rights Party, and was created in
New York City as a protest against that city's regular Democratic organization ("Tammany Hall "). It contained a mixture of anti-Tammany Democrats and labor union veterans of theWorking Men's Party . They were vigorous advocates oflaissez-faire and opponents ofmonopoly . Their leading intellectual was editorial writer William Leggett.The term "Locofoco" comes from Spanish for
match es, or "loco focos" ("crazy lights"), a new invention. It originated when a group ofNew York Jacksonians used these matches and candles when a conservative group tried to break up a meeting by turning off the gaslights.The Locofocos were involved in the
Flour Riot of 1837 .In the 1840 election, the term "Locofoco" was applied to the entire Democratic Party by its Whig opponents, both because Democratic President
Martin Van Buren had incorporated many Locofoco ideas into his economic policy, and because Whigs considered the term to be derogatory.In general, Locofocos supported
Andrew Jackson and Van Buren, and were for free trade, greater circulation of specie, legal protections for labor unions and against paper money, financial speculation, and state banks.Among the prominent members of the faction were
William Cullen Bryant ,Alexander Ming, Jr. ,John Commerford ,Levi D. Slamm ,Isaac S. Smith ,Moses Jacques , andWalt Whitman .ee also
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Specie Circular References
* Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr. "The Age of Jackson". Boston : Little, Brown, 1953 [1945] . For a description of where the Locofocos got their name, see Chapter XV.
* Carl Degler, "The Locofocos: Urban ‘Agrarians’" "Journal of Economic History" 16 (1956): 322–33. online at JSTOR
* Wilentz, Sean. "The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln" (2005)
* Garraty, John A. "The American Nation". New York: Longman (1998).
* John Stilwell Jenkins: "History of the Political Parties in the State of New-York" (Alden & Markham, Auburn NY, 1846)
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