The Free Soil Party And The Negro, 1849-1852

The Free soil portion of the slogan referred to the Free-soilers who believed that the Western territories should be free of slavery and slave labor because it degraded the white frontiersmen’s work. Many white frontiersmen could not afford slave labor and would have to attend to their own farms and land. Seeing slaves or African Americans do the same work as white yeoman would degrade the importance of yeomen’s work. Conservative Republicans were believers of this agenda. They did not want the Republican Party to be associated with what they consider the radical abolitionist movement. Even though Republicans wanted to end slavery expansion, it was not because of a moral obligation to African Americans. Conservative Republicans wanted to stop the spread of the Democrats power which was rooted in slavery.

The Whigs won elections of 1840 and 1848. They nominated in 1840 William Henry Harrison

The Abolitionist movement during the Antebellum period, was a critical time in American history. The goal of this movement was to emancipate all slaves immediately, and end discrimination, as well as segregation. The brave men and women involved in this movement were called abolitionists and antislavery advocates. The antislavery advocates stood for freeing slaves gradually, and abolitionists wanted slavery gone immediately. No matter how fast, these people all wanted to spread opposition against slavery across the United States. Northern churches started liking this whole idea of abolishing slavery, which started conflict between the North and South. These arguments led up to the Civil War.

In sequence with these events, Abraham Lincoln returned to politics in 1854 because of the success of Douglas’ Kansas-Nebraska act, and he quickly became the voice of the newly formed Republican Party. Shortly after he accepted the nomination from his party he said, “A housed divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.” This quote is very important because Americans became aware that they would soon have to choose either to favor or oppose slavery, there was no middle ground. In Abraham Lincoln’s eyes, freedom meant the opposition to slavery. Unfortunately for the Republican party, Lincoln lost the election of 1858 and Douglas was reelected, but Lincoln would soon be back.

Blacks couldn't do about anything in the north. So they weren't allowed to work at certain jobs, eat at places whites ate at or even use the same restroom. They may have been free but they still had to be careful on what they do, just because the north is free doesn't mean all whites still agree with it. Lots of time blacks were kicked out of areas because of the whites not liking them. Free blacks in the north had very limited freedoms.

2: Free Soil Party: a short-lived political party in the United States active in the 1848 and 1852 presidential elections, and in some state elections.

Roosevelt, hearing about his partner’s insulting speeches, broke from the Republican’s and formed a third party which he called the Progressive Party. The two duked it out in “The most remarkable political joust that the United States has ever seen…” Meanwhile, very quietly, Woodrow Wilson, under the Democratic Party was campaigning.

In the Election of 1848, Martin Van Buren ran his campaign on abolitionism and as the Free Soil Parties candidate. Lewis Cass, a Democrat, ran on the idea of compromise within the colonies and really strived to get an equal balance between both the North and the South. But in the end, a Southerner who ran under the Whig party, Zachary Taylor, ended up winning the election. This was one of the first elections with the organized Free Soil party and was an important piece in why the two party system would eventually crash and eventually lead to the Union falling apart in 1861.

The issue of slavery was becoming more and more prominent in the years between 1820 and 1865, and was creating a lot of sectional tension between the North, who tended to hold abolitionist beliefs, and the South, who were generally pro-slavery. Many arguments were used to defend slavery, but many of these arguments ignored some crucial details. For instance, moral arguments against slavery tended to ignore the horrible conditions slaves were forced to live in; economic arguments ignored many viable solutions to their problem; and political arguments ignored blatant bias.

Whites have always considered themselves superior to blacks, no matter if they were slave owners or not. Blacks were considered lower than humans, making them a main target of oppression of whites. So even when a small group of blacks were given their freedom, they weren’t truly liberated from the chains of slavery and oppression. Blacks were freed in the early 1800s, giving a limited amount of blacks the freedom they deserved. These blacks were usually rural, uneducated, and unskilled domestic servants who had to work hard to survive in the society that shunned them. Free blacks were still given restrictions and laws because of their status in society. In the early 1830s, a law in Virginia was made to prohibit all blacks from getting their education. They even took it to the level where free blacks who went out of state to educate themselves were not able to come back and return to their own state. The worst restriction was that blacks could not testify in court. When a slave owner claimed that a free black was their slave, they could not defend themselves, and would have to conform back to their slavery. Despite the terrible treatment given to blacks, some rose above the oppression and became successful, therefore achieving their goals and potentials of being a free black man, leaving a huge impact on society in the 1800s.

Another main issue concerning the parties and their different views was centered on domestic economic policies; the creation and sustainment of the National Bank. Federalists were in favor of the National Bank because they believed the nation would thrive off of business, commerce and industry. Although the Constitution did not state within itself the creation of a national banking system, Federalists often loosely interpreted the Constitution. Democratic-Republicans, on the other hand, were strongly opposed to the creation of the National Bank, fearing that it placed too much control in the hands of the federal government. Democratic-Republicans had a strict interpretation of the Constitution, meaning that if the Constitution did not explicitly authorize something to the federal government, then it was reserved to the states. Because of Federalist’s ideals that the nation would prosper off of industry, they gained much support from bankers, merchants, manufacturers, and the elite. Their support system was based in the North, due to the North’s growing industrial economy because of their bitter climate, ports, and abundance of natural resources. However, the Democratic-Republicans gained much of the South’s vote because of their support in farmers and planters. Their belief in state’s rights, individualism, neutrality and preference of an agricultural society as opposed to an industrial society won them support in the south. With their

Throughout the history of mankind, slavery has existed in one form or another. Since the times of ancient civilizations to modern era subjugations, there have forces who feel strongly of its necessity and purpose, while others have devoted themselves to seeing the ideas and acts of slavery abolished. America is not an exception to the concept of slavery and during the nation’s early history, parties from both sides have been made famous for their beliefs in the continuation or the denouncement of slavery in the United States. To understand the contrasting views of pro-slavery advocates versus abolitionists in antebellum America, a comparison of the individual positions must be made to further understand the goals of each party.

In 1844, the tiny abolitionist Liberty Party formed whose purpose was to pursue the cause of abolition by passing new laws. They only received only a small percentage of votes in the presidential election, but it was enough votes to throw Democrat James K. Polk the election instead of Whig candidate Henry Clay. In 1848 the Free-Soil Party was established, and this group mainly opposed the extension of slavery into the territories. They nominated former Democratic president Martin Van Buren. Although the Free-Soil Party failed to win any electoral votes in 1848, they received 10 percent of the popular vote. This sent a message that if some Northerners did not favor abolition, they definitely opposed the extension of slavery into the territories. As a result, many Northerners were Free-Soilers (but not abolitionists) and supported laws prohibiting black settlement in their communities and denying blacks the right to vote. Free-Soilers detected a dangerous pattern in the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act and the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. They were convinced a conspiracy existed on the part of the “diabolical slave power” to spread throughout the United States. They believed someone or something had to prevent

The first two political parties that were formed in the United States were the federalist and the anti-federalist. The federalist consisted of the northern population, while the anti-federalist were in the south. One of the leaders of the federalist was Alexander Hamilton, with the power that he held and the power of the other federalist, they were able to gain control of the government for the first 10 years. The Democratic-Republic party took shape with Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, until 1828 when the name Republican was dropped from the name of the party which lead to the creation of the Democratic Party. Slavery was a very important issue for the United States government during those years, the Whig Party was then formed in order to stop the spreading of slavery into the western territories. The Whig Party came to an end as the Kansas-Nebraska bill of 1854 gave permission to the state to decide if they would be a free or slave state. The anti-slavery Whigs started to gather again in

While this uncertainty was taking place, a social force greater than party loyalty was beginning to reshape American politics. The slavery issue, with the passions it aroused in the North and the South, gradually compelled a realignment of parties. The Whigs party began to split in 1852. This was a result of the deep split in opinion over slavery. During the next few years most Southern Whigs joined the Democrats. Northern Whigs joined northern antislavery Democrats. In 1854 groups of northern men against slavery urged the creation of a new political party opposed to the continuation of slavery. This party has become today’s Republicans. During 1854 to1860, the slavery issue became such a hot topic that even Democrats were becoming divided among themselves. In 1860 four candidates ran for the presidency. Brekenridge was the Southern Democrats candidate, Douglas was the Northern Democrats candidate,