Locofoco
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The Locofocos (also Loco Focos or Loco-focos) were a faction of the Democratic Party in American politics that existed from 1835 until the mid-1840s.


History

The faction, originally named the Equal Rights Party, was created in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
as a protest against that city's regular Democratic organization ("
Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...
"). It contained a mixture of anti-Tammany Democrats and labor union veterans of the
Working Men's Party : ''For other organizations with a similar name, see Workingmen's Party (disambiguation).'' The Working Men's Party in New York was a political party founded in April 1829 in New York City. After a promising debut in the fall election of 1829 ...
, the latter of which had existed from 1828 to 1830. They were vigorous advocates of ''
laissez-faire ''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups ...
'' and opponents of
monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...
. Their leading intellectual was editorial writer William Leggett. The name "Locofoco" derived from "''locofoco'', a kind of friction
match A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden mat ...
". It originated when a group of
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Jacksonians Jacksonian democracy was a 19th-century political philosophy in the United States that expanded suffrage to most white men over the age of 21, and restructured a number of federal institutions. Originating with the seventh U.S. president, Andr ...
used such matches to light candles to continue a political meeting after Tammany men tried to break up the meeting by turning off the gaslights. The Locofocos were involved in the Flour Riot of 1837. In February 1837, the Locofocos held a mass meeting in City Hall Park (New York City) to protest the rising cost of living. When the assembled crowd learned that flour had been hoarded at warehouses on the Lower East Side, hundreds rushed to the warehouses resulting in the arrest of 53 people. The New York State Assembly blamed the Locofocos for the unrest and opened an investigation into them. The Locofocos never controlled the party nationally and declined after 1840, when the federal government passed the Independent Treasury Act. This assured them that the government would not resume its involvement in banking, which had been a key aim of the faction. 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 Martin Van Buren ( ; nl, Maarten van Buren; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party, he ...
had incorporated many Locofoco ideas into his economic policy, and because Whigs considered the term to be derogatory. In general, Locofocos supported
Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
and Van Buren, and were for
free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econ ...
, greater circulation of
specie Specie may refer to: * Coins or other metal money in mass circulation * Bullion coins * Hard money (policy) * Commodity money Commodity money is money whose value comes from a commodity of which it is made. Commodity money consists of objects ...
, legal protections for labor unions and against paper money, financial
speculation In finance, speculation is the purchase of an asset (a commodity, goods, or real estate) with the hope that it will become more valuable shortly. (It can also refer to short sales in which the speculator hopes for a decline in value.) Many ...
, and state banks. Among the prominent members of the faction were William Leggett,
William Cullen Bryant William Cullen Bryant (November 3, 1794 – June 12, 1878) was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the ''New York Evening Post''. Born in Massachusetts, he started his career as a lawyer but showed an interest in poetry ...
, Alexander Ming Jr.,
John Commerford John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Seco ...
,
Levi D. Slamm Levi D. Slamm (1812 – October 6, 1862, Mamaroneck, New York) was an American labor leader, the editor of the ''Daily Plebeian'', a radical DemocratEarle, Jonathan Halperin (2004) ''Jacksonian Antislavery and the Politics of Free Soil, 1824-1854 ...
,
Abram D. Smith Abram Daniel Smith (June 9, 1811June 3, 1865), often abbreviated A. D. Smith, was an American lawyer, politician, and pioneer. As a leader of the Hunters' Lodges, he was elected President of the Republic of Canada in the midst of the Canadian R ...
, Henry K. Smith, Isaac S. Smith, Moses Jacques, Gorham Parks, and
Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among ...
(then a newspaper editor).
Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a cham ...
said of the Locofocos: "The new race is stiff, heady, and rebellious; they are fanatics in freedom; they hate tolls, taxes, turnpikes, banks, hierarchies, governors, yea, almost all laws."


Origin of name

The name Loco-foco was originally used by John Marck for a self-igniting cigar, which he had patented in April 1834. Marck, an immigrant, invented his name from a combination of the Latin prefix '' loco-'', which as part of the word "locomotive" had recently entered general public use, and was usually misinterpreted to mean "self", and a misspelling of the Italian word ''fuoco'' for "fire". Therefore, Marck's name for his product was originally meant in the sense of "self-firing". It appears that Marck's term was quickly genericized to mean any self-igniting match, and it was this usage from which the faction derived its name. The Whigs quickly seized upon the name, applying an alternate derivation of "Loco Foco", from the combination of the Spanish word ''loco'', meaning mad or crack-brained, and "foco", from ''
focus Focus, or its plural form foci may refer to: Arts * Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in South Australia Film *''Focus'', a 1962 TV film starring James Whitmore * ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based ...
'' or ''fuego'' 'fire'. Their meaning then was that the faction and later the entire Democratic party, was the "focus of folly". The use of "Locofoco" as a derogatory name for the Democratic party continued well into the 1850s, even following the dissolution of the Whig Party and the formation of the
Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa * Republican Party (Liberia) *Republican Party ...
by former urban Workingmen Locofocos, anti-slavery Know Nothings,
Free Soilers The Free Soil Party was a short-lived coalition political party in the United States active from 1848 to 1854, when it merged into the Republican Party. The party was largely focused on the single issue of opposing the expansion of slavery int ...
,
Conscience Whigs The Whig Party was a political party in the United States during the middle of the 19th century. Alongside the slightly larger Democratic Party, it was one of the two major parties in the United States between the late 1830s and the early 1850 ...
, and Temperance Whigs.


In popular culture

* Fleshies recorded "Locofoco Motherfucker" on ''Kill The Dreamer's Dream'' (2001), which interpreted contemporary politics by reference to the locofoco movement.


See also

* Specie Circular *
Preserved Fish Fish preservation is the method of increasing the shelf life of fish and other fish products by applying the principles of different branches of science in order to keep the fish, after it has landed, in a condition wholesome and fit for human ...
* Young America Movement


References


Further reading

* * Greenberg, Joshua R. ''Advocating The Man: Masculinity, Organized Labor, and the Household in New York, 1800–1840'' (New York: Columbia University Press, 2008), 190–205. * * Jenkins, John Stilwell. ''History of the Political Parties in the State of New-York'' (Suburn, NY: Alden & Markham, 1846) * Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr. ''The Age of Jackson''. (Boston: Little, Brown, 1953
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For a description of where the Locofocos got their name, see Chapter XV. * * * Wilentz, Sean. ''The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln'' (2005).


External links

* {{Cite Americana, wstitle=Locofoco , short=x Factions in the Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party (United States) 1830s in the United States 1840s in the United States