Liberty Men and the Creation of an Anti–Slave Power Coalition, 1846–1849
Liberty Men and the Creation of an Anti–Slave Power Coalition, 1846–1849
This chapter demonstrates how Liberty Party coalitionists like Gamaliel Bailey, Salmon Chase, and Henry B. Stanton paved the way for a broadened anti-Slave Power coalition before and during the election of 1848 presidential campaign. Carefully cultivating contacts with antislavery Conscience Whigs like Joshua Giddings and Charles Sumner, as well as with New York’s Democratic Barnburners, a cadre of savvy Liberty managers prepared the ground for an eventual coalition following the anticipated proslavery results of the major-party nominating conventions. When antislavery Democrats and Whigs were finally ripe for the plucking, Liberty coalitionists had already put plans in motion for the founding of the Free Soil Party, which adopted Chase’s platform resolutions emphasizing opposition to the Slave Power. The chapter concludes by showing how the Free Soil Party’s presidential defeat was nonetheless accompanied by the election of a substantial Free Soil congressional bloc, including the selection of Salmon Chase to serve as a Free Soil United States senator.
Keywords: Free Soil Party, Liberty Party, Slave Power, Conscience Whigs, Barnburners, Gamaliel Bailey, Salmon Chase, Henry B. Stanton, Joshua Giddings, Charles Sumner
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