The History of the Loco-Foco, or Equal Rights Party: Its Movements, Conventions and Proceedings

The History Of The Loco-Foco, Or Equal Rights Party: Its Movements, Conventions And Proceedings by Fitzwilliam Byrdsall chronicles the rise and life of New York's anti-monopoly movement in the 1830s. The work, drawn from the author’s insider perspective as Recording Secretary, recounts the split within the Democratic-Republican camp over monopolies, the emergence of the Equal Rights (Loco-Foco) faction, and the dramatic conventions, dinners, park meetings, and parliamentary struggles that shaped city and state politics. It offers portraits of leaders such as George H. Evans, William Leggett, Moses Jaques, Alexander Ming Jr., Job Haskell, and John Windt, and provides vivid scenes of secret caucuses, street confrontations, and the inner workings of Tammany Hall. Covering the 1835–1837 period, the book documents the Utica State Convention (1836) that formed the party’s platform, the 1836–37 campaigns, the park demonstrations, and the broader discourse on banking, currency, and constitutional reform. It blends political narrative, biographical sketches, and advocacy for reform, presenting a distinctive counter-narrative to contemporary press accounts.