The Loco-Foco Declaration of Principles

In this episode, Caleb O. Brown reads the Loco-​Foco Declaration of Principles.

On the evening of 29 October, 1835, radical liberal conspirators poured into Tammany Hall, fulfilling their carefully-​laid plans to overtake the local Democratic Party nominating conventions from the conservatives who controlled the Hall. After shutting down the conventions and subsequently the gas lamps throughout the hall, the radicals lit the room with their newly-​invented friction matches popularly called “loco-​focos.” They nominated their own slate of candidates.

The following morning, the press condescendingly referred to the rump conventioneers as the “Loco-​Foco Party,” a name which they adopted as a badge of honor. The party later drafted the defining document of their equal rights movement, the Loco-​Foco Declaration of Principles.