William Leggett

1801–1839

Nationality: American

Historical Period: The 19th Century

William Leggett (1801-1839) was a Jacksonian era journalist and the intellectual leader of the laissez-faire wing of Jacksonian democracy He was a founder of the Plain Dealer and began his career as a poet and gravitated toward writing impassioned editorials in support of individual liberties and private property rights while working with William Cullen Bryant at the Evening Post.

See the Liberty Matters online discussion on William Leggett: Free Trade, Hard Money, and Abolitionism

Quotes from William Leggett:

• William Leggett on Thanksgiving Day and the government
• William Leggett on the separation of bank and state
• William Leggett on the government becoming “the dispenser of good and evil”

Titles from William Leggett:

• Author: A Collection of the Political Writings of William Leggett
• Author: A Collection of the Political Writings of William Leggett, vol. 1
• Author: A Collection of the Political Writings of William Leggett, vol. 2
• Author: Democratick Editorials: Essays in Jacksonian Political Economy