#locofoco

On the evening of 29 October, 1835, radical liberal conspirators poured into Tammany Hall, fulfilling their carefully-laid plans to overtake the local Democratic Party nominating conventions from the conservatives who controlled the Hall.

After shutting down the conventions and subsequently the gas lamps throughout the hall, the radicals lit the room with their newly-invented friction matches popularly called “loco-focos.”

They nominated their own slate of candidates.

“[T]he introduction of locofoco ideologues to the political process forever changed American political life.”