Everything about The Free Soil Party totally explained
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
third party that largely appealed to and drew its leadership from former anti-slavery members of the
Whig Party and the
Democratic Party; its membership was largely absorbed by the
Republican Party in 1854. Its main purpose was opposing the expansion of
slavery into the western territories, arguing that free men on free soil comprised a morally and economically superior system to slavery. The free soilers were against the expansion of slavery but not the continuation of slavery in states where it already existed; their goal was to gain the land to the west, and keep the land free of both blacks and slaves.
Positions
Free Soil candidates ran on the platform that declared: "...we inscribe on our banner, 'Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor and Free Men,' and under it we'll fight on and fight ever, until a triumphant victory shall reward our exertions."
The party also called for a
homestead act and a tariff for revenue only. The Free Soil Party's main support came from areas of upstate New York, western Massachusetts, and Ohio, although other northern states also had representatives.
The Free Soil Party contended that slavery undermined the dignity of labor and inhibited social mobility, and was therefore fundamentally un-Democratic. Viewing slavery as an economically inefficient, obsolescent institution, Free Soilers argued that slavery should be contained, and that if contained it would ultimately disappear.
First convention
In
1848, the first party convention was held in
Buffalo, New York, where the Free Soilers nominated former Democratic President
Martin Van Buren for president with
Charles Francis Adams for vice president at
Lafayette Square then known as Court House Park. The main party leaders were
Salmon P. Chase of Ohio and
John P. Hale of New Hampshire. The Free Soil candidates won no electoral votes, in part because the nomination of Van Buren discouraged many anti-slavery Whigs from joining the Free Soil Party.
Compromise of 1850
The
Compromise of 1850 undercut the party's no-compromise position, and its vote fell off sharply.
Legacy
The Free Soil Parties was a notable third party. More successful than most, it sent two
Senators and fourteen
Representatives to the
thirty-first Congress. Its presidential nominee in
1848,
Martin Van Buren, received 291,616 votes against
Zachary Taylor of the Whigs and
Lewis Cass of the Democrats; Van Buren 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' influence far exceeded its numbers. The party's most important legacy was as a route for anti-slavery Democrats to join the new Republican coalition.
In Ottawa, Illinois, in August, 1854, an alliance was brokered between the Freesoil party and the Whigs (in part based on the efforts of local newspaper publisher Jonathan F. Linton) that gave rise to the Republican Party
Presidential candidates
Other Famous Free Soilers
Further Information
Get more info on 'Free Soil Party'.
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