Free Soil Party
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The Free Soil Party was a short-lived political party in the United States organized in 1840 that faded out by about 1856. Its main purpose was opposing the extension of slavery into the territories, as well as advocating the abolition of slavery itself.
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Genesis
The party was formed around the Wilmot Proviso, failed legislation requiring all territory taken from Mexico in the Mexican-American War to be free from slavery. 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 abolitionists in the Democratic and Whig parties. The party consisted of 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 the state of New York, 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 and John P. Hale. While winning no electoral votes, they received a minority of the popular vote. 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 helped the party to gain supporters who feared slavery was spreading and wanted to stop it, but this was not enough to save the Free Soilers.
Collapse of the Whig Party
The Whig Party dissolved after the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, and many northern Whigs combined with former Free-Soilers and northern Democrats to form the Republican Party, which advocated a free-soil platform while changing their name in order to avoid being associated with the failure of the Free Soil Party.
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. It was hard for the party to achieve much success because it competed with the Republicans, who also believed in abolition, and the two eventually merged with the title of "Republican."
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 Sumner, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts
- Oren B. Cheney, legislator from Maine, founder of Bates College
See also
Publications
- J. C. Smith, Liberty and Free Soil Parties in the Northwest (New York, 1897)
- Curtis, The Republican Party, volume i. (New York, 1904)
- T. H. Mckee, National Conventions and Platforms of All Political Parties, 1789-1905 (sixth edition, Baltimore, 1906)