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Hugh Swinton Legaré (January 2, 1797–June 20, 1843) was an American lawyer and politician.
Born in Charleston, South Carolina of Huguenot and Scottish ancestry, he grew up in South Carolina.
Partly on account of his inability to share in the amusements of his fellows by reason of a deformity due to vaccine poisoning before he was five (the poison permanently arresting the growth and development of his legs), he was an eager student, and in 1814 he graduated at the College of South Carolina (now University of South Carolina at Columbia) with the highest rank in his class and with a reputation throughout the state for scholarship and eloquence.
He studied the law for three years, did advanced work in Paris and Edinburgh in 1818 and 1819 and was admitted to the South Carolina bar in 1822.
After practicing for a time in Charles, he became a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, serving 1820 to 1821 and then 1824 to 1830. He founded and edited the Southern Review from 1832 to 1836.
From 1830 to 1832 he was the attorney general of South Carolina, and he supported states' rights, he strongly opposed nullification. He was Attorney General until he was appointed chargé d'affaires to Brussels in 1832, serving there until 1836.
He was then elected to the 25th Congress and failed in a re-election bid the following term. In 1841 President John Tyler named him Attorney General of the United States and he served in that office until his death. He also served as Secretary of State ad interim from May 8, 1843 until his death.
He died in Boston while attending ceremonies at the unveiling of the Bunker Hill Monument. He was first interred in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts and was later reinterred in Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston.
Further reading
- The Writings of Hugh Swinton Legaré, South Carolina, 1846. (2 vols.)
Sources
- This article incorporates facts obtained from the public domain Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
| Preceded by: John J. Crittenden | Attorney General of the United States 1841–1843 | Succeeded by: John Nelson |