William Leggett

William Leggett (1802-1839), a writer and editor in New York City, was a spokesman for laissez faire democracy in the era of Jacksonian Democracy. he advocated what is today called libertarianism.

Leggett was a leader of the Loco-Foco movement in New York City in the 1830s and was an opponent of slavery.

Leggett argued, that the state "possesses no delegated right to tamper with individual industry a single hair's-breadth beyond what is essential to protect the rights of person and property."

Further reading

• Degler, Carl N. "The Locofocos: Urban ‘Agrarians’". Journal of Economic History (1956) 16: 322–333. in JSTOR
• Hofstadter, Richard. "William Leggett, Spokesman of Jacksonian Democracy," Political Science Quarterly Vol. 58, No. 4 (Dec., 1943), pp. 581–594 in JSTOR
• Trimble, William. "The Social Philosophy of the Loco-Foco Democracy," American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 26, No. 6 (May, 1921), pp. 705–715 in JSTOR

Primary sources

• Leggett, William. A Collection of the Political Writings of William Leggett, edited by Theodore Sedgwick (1840; reprinted 2009) excerpt and text search
• Leggett, William. Democratick Editorials: Essays in Jacksonian Political Economy (1834) table of contents of 1984 edition