Hugh Swinton Legaré (/lɪˈɡriː/ lih-GREE; January 2, 1797 – June 20, 1843) was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician from South Carolina who served as the 16th United States Attorney General under President John Tyler.
Legaré served as Attorney General of South Carolina from 1830 to 1832 before President Andrew Jackson appointed him as the acting minister to the new Kingdom of Belgium.
Following the 1841 death of President William Henry Harrison and the resignation of Whigs from the cabinet, Legaré was named United States Attorney General by John Tyler.
Partly due to his inability to share in the amusements of his fellows, as a result of a vaccine-related deformity suffered before he was five that permanently stunted the growth and development of his legs; Legaré was an eager student and was president of the Clariosophic Society at the College of South Carolina (now University of South Carolina at Columbia), from which he graduated in 1814 with the highest rank in his class and with a reputation for scholarship and eloquence.
[1] After graduation, he studied the law for three years, did advanced work in Paris and Edinburgh in 1818 and 1819 and in 1822 was admitted to the South Carolina bar.