Free Soil Party

THEFREESOIL Party was a political party that opposed the expansion of slavery into the western territories. The party was originally a splinter of the Democratic Party, but many of its members would eventually drift into the newly-formed Republican Party in 1854. The conflict in Congress over the Wilmot Proviso was a catalyst for the creation of the new party. The proviso, named for Democratic Congressman David Wilmot of Pennsylvania, called for the outlawing of slavery in any of the territories acquired from Mexico as a result of the Mexican War. First proposed by Wilmot in August 1846, it was attached to many bills in the House of Representatives, but never became law due to opposition in the Senate led by fohn C. Calhoun of South Carolina. Supporters of the Proviso would form the Free Soil Party. Supporters of free soil believed that the federal government could not outlaw slavery where it existed, but that it could restrict slavery in the new territories.

In August 1848, the Free Soil Party held its first convention in Buffalo, New York. The party was an amalgamation of the antislavery Liberty Party (founded in 1840), and the Barnburners, a faction of the Democratic Party (led by former President Martin Van Buren) that opposed the expansion of slavery, the public debt, and the power of large corporations. The Barnburners' split from the Democratic Party came after the Democrats nominated Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan. Cass was a proponent of what was known as the Doctrine of Popular Sovereignty, which stated that the residents of the territories should be allowed to decide the question of slavery. They were also joined by Conscience Whigs, members of that party who opposed slavery as a matter of principle. The new party's leaders were Salmon P. Chase, who had been the leader of the Liberty Party in Ohio since 1841, and U.S. Senator fohn Hale of New Hampshire. Chase is credited with coining the party's slogan: “Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, and Free Men.” Many supporters of the new party were not abolitionists, but feared that the spread of slavery into the west would make it difficult for non-slave owners to compete economically with slave-owning landowners.

The Free Soilers nominated a ticket of former Democratic President Martin Van Buren for president and Charles Francis Adams for vice president. In addition to opposing the expansion of slavery into the territories, the party platform also called for a homestead act and [Page 257]called for the use of tariffs to be restricted to the raising of revenue. Van Buren's candidacy discouraged many antislavery Whigs from joining the party. The party's geographic base of support was upstate New York, New England, and the midwest. The Van Buren/Adams ticket would garner about 10 percent of the popular vote. Van Buren's strong showing in New York (finishing ahead of Cass) split the Democratic vote, ensuring the election of Whig presidential candidate, Zachary Taylor. A total of 14 Free Soil candidates were elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and Chase would join Hale in the Senate. In Ohio, the Free Soil members of the state legislature held the balance of power, since neither major party had a majority. They convinced the Democrats to repeal the state's “black laws,” and also elected Chase to the U.S. Senate.

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