Hugh S. Legare

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Hugh S. Legare

Hugh Swinton Legaré (born January 2, 1797 in Charleston , South Carolina , †  June 20, 1843 in Boston , Massachusetts ) was an American lawyer , diplomat , politician and attorney general (Attorney General) .

Studies and professional career

Legaré, who was descended from Huguenots and Scots , suffered vaccine poisoning at the age of five , which hampered his growth. He first completed a general education course at the University of South Carolina , which he finished in 1814 as top of the class with honors. Subsequently, he studied until 1817 law . He later studied French in Paris during a trip to Europe in 1818 and Roman law , philosophy , mathematics and chemistry in Edinburgh in 1819 , before being admitted to the South Carolina bar in 1822 .

Political career

Offices in South Carolina and diplomat

Legaré began his political career in 1820 with the election to the House of Representatives from South Carolina , which he served until 1821 and then again from 1824 to 1830. He then became Attorney General of South Carolina until 1832 . In this office he was an advocate for the rights of the individual states and an outspoken opponent of the so-called nullification doctrine , which said that individual states had the right not to implement federal laws that are harmful to them.

From 1832 to 1836 he was chargé (charge d'affaires) in previously became independent two years Belgium .

Congressman and Attorney General under Tyler

After his return from Brussels he was on March 4, 1837 a member of the House of Representatives of the United States , but he only belonged for one term until March 3, 1839, after his re-election had failed.

On September 13, 1841, President John Tyler appointed him as Attorney General ( Attorney General ) in his cabinet . He held this office until his death on June 20, 1843 in Boston after the unveiling ceremony for the Bunker Hill Monument . From May 8, 1843 until his death, he also served as Secretary of State of the United States ad interim after the resignation of Daniel Webster .

Publications

literature

  • Michael O'Brien : A Character of Hugh Legaré. The University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville 1985
  • Linda Rhea: Hugh Swinton Legaré. A Charleston Intellectual. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill 1934.
  • Legaré, Hugh S. In: James Grant Wilson, John Fiske (Eds.): Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography . tape 3 : Grinnell - Lockwood . D. Appleton and Company, New York 1887, p. 677 (English, Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Legaré, Hugh S.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Legaré, Hugh Swinton (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American lawyer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH January 2, 1797
PLACE OF BIRTH Charleston , South Carolina
DATE OF DEATH June 20, 1843
Place of death Boston , Massachusetts