Hugh Swinton Legare


Legaré, Hugh Swinton

(ləgrē`), 1797–1843, American lawyer and public official, b. Charleston, S.C. He was admitted to the bar in 1822, served in the South Carolina legislature (1820–22, 1824–30), and was state attorney general (1830–32). He was a founder, editor (1828–32), and a chief contributor to the Southern Review. From 1832 to 1836 he was chargé d'affaires at Brussels. A strong opponent of nullificationnullification,
in U.S. history, a doctrine expounded by the advocates of extreme states' rights. It held that states have the right to declare null and void any federal law that they deem unconstitutional.
..... Click the link for more information. , he was elected (1837) to Congress as a Union Democrat. When, on William Henry Harrison's death, John Tyler succeeded as President, Legaré became (1841) Attorney General. He also became (1843) Secretary of State ad interim after Daniel Webster's resignation, but he died two months later.

Legaré, Hugh Swinton

(1797–1843) lawyer, public official; born in Charleston, S.C. Left permanently crippled after a childhood bout with smallpox, he graduated first in his class at the University of South Carolina, studied law in Europe, and served several terms in the state legislature in the 1820s. He opposed Calhoun and nullification in 1828. A man of wide learning and broad views, he served as coeditor of the influential Southern Review (1828–32). He served two years as his state's attorney general (1830–32), sat in the U.S. House of Representatives (Whig, 1837–39); and was attorney general in President Tyler's cabinet (1841–43).