Free Soil Party
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The Free Soil Party was a short-lived political party in the United States active in the 1848 and 1852 presidential elections, and in some state elections. It was a breakaway faction of the Democratic party and was largely absorbed by the Republican party in 1856. Its main purpose was opposing the expansion of slavery into the territories, arguing that free men on free soil comprised a morally and economically superior system to slavery. They bitterly fought the Slave Power.
Genesis
The party was formed around the Wilmot Proviso of 1846, a proposed law requiring all territory taken from Mexico in the Mexican-American War to be free from slavery. It never passed. When New Mexico and Utah were opened to slavery based on the popular sovereignty clause in the Compromise of 1850, the Wilmot Proviso failed.
The party evolved from anti-slavery elements in the Democratic party. It also attracted some former members of the abolitionist Liberty Party, extreme anti-slavery Whigs, and the Barnburners, the pro-Van Buren faction of the New York Democratic Party which had been excluded from power by their Hunker opponents.
Positions
Free Soil candidates ran on the platform declaring "...we inscribe on our banner, 'Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor and Free Man,' and under it we will fight on and fight ever, until a triumphant victory shall reward our exertions."
They also called for a homestead law and a tariff for revenue only. The Free Soil Party attracted mainly abolitionists from the North and other free states. Their main support came from Yankee-settled areas of upstate New York, western Massachusetts and northern Ohio, though other states also had representatives.
First convention
In 1848, their first party convention was in Buffalo, New York, where they nominated former Democratic President Martin Van Buren with Charles Francis Adams as Vice President. The main party leaders were Salmon P. Chase of Ohio and John P. Hale of New Hampshire. They won no electoral votes. The nomination of Van Buren had the adverse affect of discouraging many anti-slavery Whigs from joining the Free Soilers.
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 undercut the part's no-compromise position, and its vote fell off sharply.Legacy
The Free Soil Party was a notable third party. More successful than most, it had two Senators and fourteen Representatives sent to the thirty-first Congress. Their Presidential nominee in 1848, Martin Van Buren, received 291,616 votes against Zachary Taylor of the Whigs and Lewis Cass of the Democrats, although he received no electoral votes. The Party's "spoiler" effect in 1848 may have put Zachary Taylor into office, in a narrowly-contested election.
The strength of the party, however, was its representation in Congress. The sixteen elected officials were able to have an influence despite being a small group. Its most important legacy was as a route for anti-slavery Democrats to join the new Republican coalition.
Presidential candidates
| Year | Presidential candidate | Vice Presidential candidate | Won/Lost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1848 | Martin Van Buren | Charles Francis Adams | Lost |
| 1852 | John P. Hale | George Julian | Lost |
Famous Free Soilers
- Charles Francis Adams
- Salmon P. Chase
- Charles Sumner, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts
- Oren B. Cheney, legislator from Maine, founder of Bates College
See also
References
- Frederick J. Blue; Salmon P. Chase: A Life in Politics 1987
- Frederick J. Blue. The Free Soilers: Third Party Politics, 1848-54 (1973)
- Martin Duberman; Charles Francis Adams, 1807-1886 1968.
- Eric Foner; Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party before the Civil War 1970
- J. C. Smith, Liberty and Free Soil Parties in the Northwest (New York, 1897)
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