Background was the two-time presidential nominee of the
Liberty Party, a forerunner of the Free Soil Party. Though
William Lloyd Garrison and most other abolitionists of the 1830s had generally shunned the political system, a small group of
abolitionists founded the
Liberty Party in 1840. The Liberty Party was a
third party dedicated to the immediate abolition of
slavery. The Liberty Party nominated
James G. Birney for president and
Thomas Earle for vice president in the
1840 presidential election. Months after the 1840 election, the party re-nominated Birney for president, established a national party committee, and began to organize at the state and local level. Support for the party grew in the North, especially among
evangelical former
Whigs in New England, upstate New York, Michigan, and Ohio's
Western Reserve. Other anti-slavery Whigs like
John Quincy Adams remained within the Whig Party, but increasingly supported anti-slavery policies like the repeal of the
gag rule, which prevented the House of Representatives from considering abolitionist petitions. Meanwhile, long-time abolitionist leaders like
Lewis Tappan became increasingly open to working within the political system. In a reflection of the rise of anti-slavery sentiment, several Northern states passed
personal liberty laws that forbid state authorities from cooperating in the capture and return of fugitive slaves. Beginning in May 1843, President
John Tyler made the
annexation of Texas his key priority. Most leaders of both parties opposed opening the question of annexation in 1843 due to their fear of stoking the debate over slavery; the annexation of Texas was widely viewed as a pro-slavery initiative because it would add another slave state to the union. Nonetheless, in April 1844, Secretary of State
John C. Calhoun reached a treaty with Texas providing for the annexation of that country.
Henry Clay and
Martin Van Buren, the two front-runners for the major party presidential nominations in the
1844 presidential election, both announced their opposition to annexation, and the Senate blocked the treaty. To the surprise of Clay and other Whigs, the
1844 Democratic National Convention rejected Van Buren in favor of
James K. Polk, and approved a platform calling for the acquisition of both Texas and
Oregon Country. Polk went on to defeat Clay in a close election, taking 49.5 of the popular vote and a majority of the electoral vote. The number of voters casting a ballot for Birney increased tenfold from 6,200 in 1840 (0.3 percent of the popular vote) to 62,000 (2.3 percent of the popular vote) in 1844.
Formation of the Free Soil Party Wilmot Proviso (red), which was acquired from Mexico in the 1848
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Following the annexation of Texas in 1845, President Polk began preparations for a potential war with
Mexico, which still regarded Texas as a part of its republic. After a skirmish known as the
Thornton Affair broke out on the northern side of the Rio Grande, Polk convinced Congress to declare war against Mexico. Though most Democrats and Whigs initially supported the war, Adams and some other anti-slavery Whigs attacked the war as a "
Slave Power" plot designed to expand slavery across North America. Meanwhile, former Democratic Representative
John P. Hale had defied party leaders by denouncing the annexation of Texas, causing him to lose re-election in 1845. Hale joined with anti-slavery Whigs and the Liberty Party to create a new party in New Hampshire, and he won election to the Senate in early 1847. In New York, tensions between the anti-slavery
Barnburner and the conservative Hunker factions of the Democratic Party rose, as the Hunkers allied with the Whigs to defeat the re-election campaign of Democratic Governor
Silas Wright. In August 1846, Polk asked Congress to appropriate $2 million (~$ in ) in hopes of using that money as a down payment for the purchase of
Alta California in a treaty with Mexico. During the debate over the appropriations bill, Democratic Representative
David Wilmot of Pennsylvania offered an amendment known as the
Wilmot Proviso, which would ban slavery in any newly acquired lands. Though broadly supportive of the war, Wilmot and some other anti-slavery Northern Democrats had increasingly come to view Polk as unduly favorable to
Southern interests, partly due to Polk's decision to compromise with Britain over the
partition of Oregon. Unlike some Northern Whigs, Wilmot and other anti-slavery Democrats were largely unconcerned by the issue of racial equality, and instead opposed the expansion of slavery because they believed the institution was detrimental to the "laboring white man." The Wilmot Proviso passed the House with the support of both Northern Whigs and Northern Democrats, breaking the normal pattern of partisan division in congressional votes, but it was defeated in the Senate, where Southerners controlled a proportionally higher share of seats. Several Northern congressmen subsequently defeated an attempt by President Polk and Senator
Lewis Cass to extend the
Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific. In February 1848, Mexican and U.S. negotiators reached the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which provided for the cession of Alta California and New Mexico. Though many senators had reservations about the treaty, the Senate approved it in a 38-to-14 vote in February 1848. Senator
John M. Clayton's effort to reach a compromise over the status of slavery in the territories was defeated in the House, ensuring that slavery would be an important issue in the 1848 election.
Election of 1848 for president in the 1848 presidential election. Led by
John Van Buren, the Barnburners bolted from the
1848 Democratic National Convention after the party nominated a ticket consisting of Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan and former Representative
William O. Butler of Kentucky; Cass and Butler had both opposed the Wilmot Proviso. Shortly after the Democrats nominated Cass, a group of Whigs made plans for a convention of anti-slavery politicians and activists in case the
1848 Whig National Convention nominated General
Zachary Taylor of Louisiana for president. With the strong backing of slave state delegates, Taylor defeated Henry Clay to win the Whig presidential nomination. For vice president, the Whigs nominated Millard Fillmore of New York, a conservative Northerner. The nomination of Taylor, a slaveholder without any history in the Whig Party, spurred anti-slavery Whigs to go through with their convention, which would meet in
Buffalo, New York, in August. A faction of the Liberty Party led by
Salmon P. Chase agreed to attend the convention, though another faction of the party, led by
Gerrit Smith, refused to consider merging with another party. Meanwhile, Barnburners convened in
Utica, New York, on June 22; they were joined by a smaller number of Whigs and Democrats from outside New York. Though initially reluctant to accept running for president, former President Van Buren accepted the group's presidential nomination. Van Buren endorsed the position that slavery should be excluded from the territories acquired from Mexico, further declaring his belief that slavery was inconsistent with the "principles of the
Revolution". Because Van Buren had favored the gag rule and had generally accommodated pro-slavery leaders during his presidency, many Liberty Party leaders and anti-slavery Whigs were unconvinced as to the sincerity of Van Buren's anti-slavery beliefs. Historian A. James Reichley writes that, while resentment stemming from his defeat at the 1844 Democratic National Convention may have played a role in his candidacy, Van Buren ran on the grounds that "the long-term welfare of [the Democratic Party], and the nation, required that the [Democratic Party] shed its Calhounite influence, even at the cost of losing an election or two." With a mix of Democratic, Whig, and Liberty Party attendees, the
National Free Soil Convention convened in Buffalo early August. Anti-slavery leaders made up a majority of the attendees, but the convention also attracted some Democrats and Whigs who were indifferent on the issue of slavery but disliked the nominee of their respective party. Salmon Chase,
Preston King, and
Benjamin Franklin Butler led the drafting of a platform that not only endorsed the Wilmot Proviso but also called for the abolition of slavery in
Washington, D.C., and all
U.S. territories. With the backing of most Democratic delegates, about half of the Whig delegates, and a small number of Liberty Party leaders, Van Buren defeated John P. Hale to win the fledgling party's presidential nomination. For vice president, the Free Soil Party nominated
Charles Francis Adams Sr., the youngest son of the recently deceased John Quincy Adams. Some Free Soil leaders were initially optimistic that Van Buren could carry a handful of Northern states and force a
contingent election in the House of Representatives, but Van Buren did not win a single electoral vote. However, the nomination of Van Buren alienated many Whigs; except in northern Ohio, most Whig leaders and newspapers rallied around Taylor's candidacy. Ultimately, Taylor won the election with a majority of the electoral vote and a plurality of the popular vote, improving on Clay's 1844 performance in the South and benefiting from the defection of many Democrats to Van Buren in the North. Van Buren won ten percent of the national popular vote and fifteen percent of the popular vote in the Northern states; he received a popular vote total five times greater than that of Birney's 1844 candidacy. Van Buren was the first third-party candidate in U.S. history to win at least ten percent of the national popular vote. In
concurrent congressional elections, Salmon Chase won election to the Senate and about a dozen Free Soil candidates won election to the House of Representatives.
Between elections, 1849–1852 of Ohio was one of the most prominent leaders of the Free Soil Party. The Free Soil Party continued to exist after 1848, fielding candidates for various offices. At the state level, Free Soilers often entered into coalitions with either of the major parties to elect anti-slavery officeholders. To sidestep the issue of the Wilmot Proviso, the Taylor administration proposed that the lands of the Mexican Cession be admitted as states without first organizing territorial governments; thus, slavery in the area would be left to the discretion of state governments rather than the federal government. In January 1850, Senator Clay introduced a separate proposal which included the admission of California as a free state, the
cession by Texas of some of its northern and western territorial claims in return for debt relief, the establishment of
New Mexico and
Utah territories, a ban on the importation of slaves into the District of Columbia for sale, and a more stringent fugitive slave law. Free Soilers strongly opposed this proposal, focusing especially on the
fugitive slave law. Taylor died in July 1850 and was succeeded by Vice President Fillmore. Fillmore and Democrat
Stephen A. Douglas led the passage of the
Compromise of 1850, which was based on Clay's earlier proposal. The Whig Party became badly split between pro-Compromise Whigs like Fillmore and Webster and anti-Compromise Whigs like
William Seward, who demanded the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Act. The first of several prominent episodes concerning the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law occurred in late 1850, when Boston abolitionists helped
Ellen and William Craft, two fugitive slaves, escape to Canada. Though the fugitive slave act and its enforcement outraged anti-slavery activists, most Northerners viewed it as a necessary trade-off for sectional peace with the South, and there was a backlash in the North against the anti-slavery agitation. The Free Soil Party suffered from this backlash, as well as the desertion of many anti-slavery Democrats (including Van Buren himself), many of whom believed that sectional balance had been restored following Van Buren's candidacy and the Compromise of 1850.
Charles Sumner won election to the
32nd Congress, but Free Soilers lost a net of five seats in the
1850 and 1851 House of Representatives elections.
1852 presidential election Enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act damaged Fillmore's standing among Northerners and, with the backing of Senator Seward, General
Winfield Scott won the presidential nomination at the
1852 Whig National Convention. The Whig national convention also adopted a platform that endorsed the Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act. Scott and his advisers had initially hoped to avoid openly endorsing the Compromise of 1850 in order to court Free Soil support, but, as a concession to Southern Whigs, Scott agreed to support the Whig platform. The
1852 Democratic National Convention, meanwhile, nominated former New Hampshire senator
Franklin Pierce, a Northerner sympathetic to the Southern view on slavery. Free Soil leaders had initially considered supporting Scott, but they organized a national convention after Scott accepted the pro-Compromise Whig platform. At the August 1852 Free Soil Convention, held in
Pittsburgh, the party nominated a ticket consisting of Senator John P. Hale of New Hampshire and former Representative
George Washington Julian of Indiana. The party adopted a platform that called for the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Act and described slavery as "a sin against God and a crime against man." Free Soil leaders strongly preferred Scott to Pierce, and Hale focused his campaign on winning over anti-slavery Democratic voters. The elections proved to be disastrous for the Whig Party, as Scott was defeated by a wide margin and the Whigs lost several congressional and state elections. Hale won just under five percent of the vote, performing most strongly in Massachusetts, Vermont, and Wisconsin. Though much of this drop in support was caused by the return of Barnburners to the Democratic Party, many individuals who had voted for Van Buren in 1848 sat out the 1852 election. In the aftermath of the decisive defeat of the Whigs, many Free Soil leaders predicted an impending realignment that would result in the formation of a larger anti-slavery party that would unite Free Soilers with anti-slavery Whigs and Democrats.
Formation of the Republican Party in 1854, Free Soilers joined with other groups to form the
Republican Party, which nominated political neophyte
John C. Frémont for president in 1856. Hoping to spur the creation of a
transcontinental railroad, in 1853 Senator Douglas proposed a bill to create an organized territorial government in a portion of the Louisiana Purchase that was north of the 36°30′ parallel, and thus excluded slavery under the terms of the Missouri Compromise. After pro-slavery Southern senators blocked the passage of the proposal, Douglas and other Democratic leaders agreed to a bill that would repeal the Missouri Compromise and allow the inhabitants of the territories to determine the status of slavery. In response, Free Soilers issued the
Appeal of the Independent Democrats, a manifesto that attacked the bill as the work of the Slave Power. Overcoming the opposition of Free Soilers, Northern Whigs, and many Democrats, the
Kansas–Nebraska Act was passed into law in May 1854. The act deeply angered many Northerners, including anti-slavery Democrats and conservative Whigs who were largely apathetic towards slavery but were upset by the repeal of a thirty-year-old compromise. Pierce's forceful response to protests stemming from the capture of escaped slave
Anthony Burns further alienated many Northerners. Throughout 1854, Democrats, Whigs, and Free Soilers held state and local conventions, where they denounced the Kansas–Nebraska Act. Many of the larger conventions agreed to nominate a fusion ticket of candidates opposed to the Kansas–Nebraska Act, and some adopted portions of the Free Soil platform from 1848 and 1852. One of these groups met in
Ripon, Wisconsin, and agreed to establish a new party known as the
Republican Party if the Kansas–Nebraska Act passed. Though many Democrats and Whigs involved in the
anti-Nebraska movement still clung to their partisan affiliation, others began to label themselves as Republicans. Another political coalition appeared in the form of the nativist and anti-Catholic
Know Nothing movement, which formed the American Party. While the Republican Party almost exclusively appealed to Northerners, the Know Nothings gathered many adherents in both the North and South; some individuals joined both groups even while they remained part of the Whig Party or the Democratic Party. Congressional Democrats suffered huge losses in the mid-term
elections of 1854, as voters provided support to a wide array of new parties opposed to the Democratic Party. Most victorious congressional candidates who were not affiliated with the Democratic Party had campaigned either independently of the Whig Party or in fusion with another party. "
Bleeding Kansas", a struggle between anti-slavery and pro-slavery settlers for control of
Kansas Territory, escalated in 1855 and 1856, pushing many moderate Northerners to join the nascent Republican Party. As cooperation between Northern and Southern Whigs appeared to be increasingly impossible, leaders from both sections continued to abandon the party. In September 1855, Seward led his faction of Whigs into the Republican Party, effectively marking the end of the Whig Party as an independent and significant political force. In May 1856, after denouncing the Slave Power in a speech on the Senate floor, Senator Sumner was
attacked by Congressman
Preston Brooks, outraging Northerners. Meanwhile, the
1856 American National Convention nominated former President Fillmore for president, but many Northerners deserted the American Party after the party platform failed to denounce the Kansas–Nebraska Act. The
1856 Republican National Convention convened in Philadelphia in June 1856. A committee chaired by David Wilmot produced a platform that denounced slavery, the Kansas–Nebraska Act, and the Pierce administration. Though Chase and Seward were the two most prominent members of the nascent party, the Republicans instead nominated
John C. Frémont, the son-in-law of Thomas Hart Benton and a political neophyte. The party campaigned on a new version of an old Free Soil slogan: "Free Speech, Free Press, Free Men, Free Labor, Free Territory, and Frémont". With the collapse of the Whig Party, the
1856 presidential election became a three-sided contest between Democrats, Know Nothings, and Republicans. During his campaign, Fillmore minimized the issue of nativism, instead attempting to use his campaign as a platform for unionism and a revival of the Whig Party. Ultimately, Democrat
James Buchanan won the election with a majority of the electoral vote and 45 percent of the popular vote; Frémont won most of the remaining electoral votes and took 33 percent of the popular vote, while Fillmore won 21.6 percent of the popular vote and just eight electoral votes. Frémont carried New England, New York, and parts of the Midwest, but Buchanan nearly swept the South and won several Northern states. == Ideology and positions ==