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The Liberty Party was a minor
political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
in the 1840s (with some offshoots surviving into the 1860s). The party was an early advocate of the abolitionist cause and it broke away from the
American Anti-Slavery Society The American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS; 1833–1870) was an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave, had become a prominent abolitionist and was a key leader of this socie ...
(AASS) to advocate the view that the
Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...
was an anti-slavery document.
William Lloyd Garrison William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was a prominent American Christian, abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He is best known for his widely read antislavery newspaper '' The Liberator'', which he fo ...
, leader of the AASS, held the contrary view, that the Constitution should be condemned as an evil pro-slavery document. The party included abolitionists who were willing to work within electoral politics to try to influence people to support their goals. By contrast, the radical Garrison opposed voting and working within the system. Many Liberty Party members joined the anti-slavery (but not abolitionist) Free Soil Party in 1848 and eventually helped establish the
Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa * Republican Party (Liberia) *Republican Party ...
in the 1850s.


Party origin

The party was announced in November 1839 and first gathered in Warsaw, New York. Its first national convention took place in Arcade, New York, on April 1, 1840. The Liberty Party nominated
James G. Birney James Gillespie Birney (February 4, 1792November 18, 1857) was an American abolitionist, politician, and attorney born in Danville, Kentucky. He changed from being a planter and slave owner to abolitionism, publishing the abolitionist weekly '' ...
, a Kentuckian and former slaveholder, for President in 1840 and 1844. The second nominating convention was held in August 1843 in Buffalo, New York. The Liberty Party platform of 1843 resolved "to regard and to treat" the
fugitive slave clause The Fugitive Slave Clause in the United States Constitution, also known as either the Slave Clause or the Fugitives From Labor Clause, is Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3, which requires a "person held to service or labor" (usually a slave, appre ...
of the Constitution "as utterly null and void, and consequently forming no part of the Constitution of the United States" on grounds of "natural right" (
natural law Natural law ( la, ius naturale, ''lex naturalis'') is a system of law based on a close observation of human nature, and based on values intrinsic to human nature that can be deduced and applied independently of positive law (the express enacte ...
). It also contained the following plank:
''Resolved'', That the Liberty Party ... will demand the absolute and unqualified divorce of the general 'i.e.'', federalgovernment from slavery, and also the restoration of equality of rights among men, in every State where the party exists, or may exist.


Support and influence

The party did not attract much support. In the 1840 election, Birney received only 6,797 votes and in the 1844 election 62,103 votes (2.3% of the popular vote). However, it may have thrown victory from Henry Clay to James Polk in the 1844 election, with Birney having received 15,800 votes in New York and Polk winning New York by 5,100 votes. If Clay had won New York, he would have had the majority of electoral votes instead of Polk. A third nominating convention was held in
Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, Yonkers, and Rochester. At the 2020 census, the city' ...
in October 1847, endorsing John P. Hale of New Hampshire with 103 votes (there Gerrit Smith received forty-four votes for the nomination, with another twelve scattered votes for others). However, Hale later withdrew due to the subsequent events of 1848.


Candidates


Relationship to the Free Soil Party

In 1848, with the political sentiment stirred up by the Wilmot Proviso controversies and the " Barnburner" (abolitionist) faction of New York Democrats splitting off from the rest of the Democratic Party, there was the possibility of forming a much larger and more influential political grouping devoted to anti-slavery goals—but not all of whom considered themselves to be primarily abolitionists as such, or were willing to work under the Liberty Party name. Therefore, many Liberty Party members met in
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...
, with other groups in August 1848 to form the Free Soil Party, a party that although opposed to slavery was not strictly speaking abolitionist. A minority which was not willing to merge with the Free Soil Party nominated Gerrit Smith as rump National Liberty Party candidate for 1848 at a convention held on June 14–15, 1848 in Buffalo. Smith went on to win 2,545 votes, less than 1% of the Free Soil vote total. The Free Soil Party later merged with the
Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa * Republican Party (Liberia) *Republican Party ...
in 1854, by which time many of the issues originally championed by the Liberty Party had become politically mainstream. A member of the Liberty Party who later rose to great political prominence as a Free-Soiler and Republican was
Salmon P. Chase Salmon Portland Chase (January 13, 1808May 7, 1873) was an American politician and jurist who served as the sixth chief justice of the United States. He also served as the 23rd governor of Ohio, represented Ohio in the United States Senate, a ...
. Chase had joined the Liberty Party in 1841 and had a significant influence on the Liberty Party platform of 1843–1844 as well as organizing the Southern and Western Liberty Convention in Cincinnati in 1845, where a number of delegates from the Midwest and Upper South met. In order to broaden the appeal of the party, Chase advocated supplementing the almost purely religious and moral Liberty Party rhetoric of the 1840 election with political and constitutional analysis and wished the party to emphasize that its immediate goal was to withdraw all direct federal government support and recognition of slavery (or to "divorce" the federal government from slavery) as opposed to simply demanding the abolition of slavery everywhere in the United States (something which was beyond the legal power of the federal government to accomplish as the Constitution then existed). In 1847–1848, Chase was a strong supporter of the fusion movement which resulted in the formation of the Free Soil Party. The Liberty Party continued to exist many years afterwards, despite most of its supporters having left to join less-religiously-motivated parties. In the absence of Chase, religious rhetoric in the party's official addresses and platforms increased. The 1848 platform strongly condemned the perceived attempts to moderate the party. That same year, the party began openly advocating various general moralistic policies, such as prohibitions on alcohol, gambling, and prostitution. Other than these religiously motivated restrictions on market activity, the party largely favored free trade and opposed tariffs. One year later, the twenty-second plank of the 1849 platform praised Lysander Spooner's book ''
The Unconstitutionality of Slavery ''The Unconstitutionality of Slavery'' (1845) was a book by American abolitionist Lysander Spooner advocating the view that the United States Constitution prohibited slavery. This view was advocated in contrast to that of William Lloyd Garrison ...
''. In 1852, the party held its national convention on September 30 in Syracuse, New York. The presidential nominee that year was William Goodell of New York and his running mate was
S. M. Bell S is the nineteenth letter of the English alphabet. S may also refer to: History * an Anglo-Saxon charter's number in Peter Sawyer's, catalogue Language and linguistics * Long s (ſ), a form of the lower-case letter s formerly used where " ...
of Virginia. The platform that year only had four planks. A state convention of the Liberty Party was held in February, 1853, in Syracuse. By 1856, very little of the Liberty Party remained after most of its members joined the Free Soil Party in 1848 and nearly of all what remained of the party joined the Republicans in 1854. The small remnant of the party renominated Gerrit Smith under the name of the "National Liberty Party". In 1860, the remnant of the party was also called the Radical Abolitionists. A convention of one hundred delegates was held in Convention Hall, Syracuse, New York, on August 29, 1860. Delegates were in attendance from New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, and Massachusetts. Several of the delegates were women. Gerrit Smith, despite his poor health, fought William Goodell in regard to the nomination for the presidency. In the end, Smith was nominated for president and
Samuel McFarland Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bib ...
from Pennsylvania was nominated for vice president. The ticket won 171 popular votes from
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...
and
Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...
. In Ohio, a slate of presidential electors pledged to Smith ran with the name of the Union Party.


Other prominent Liberty Party members

*
James Appleton Brigadier General James Appleton (February 14, 1785 – August 25, 1862) was an American abolitionist, early supporter of temperance, and politician from Maine. Early life Appleton was born on February 14, 1785 in Ipswich, Massachusetts on a fa ...
, Maine state legislator and Liberty Party nominee for Governor (1842) * Shepard Cary, Democratic member of Congress from Maine and Liberty Party nominee for Governor (1854) *
Charles Durkee Charles H. Durkee (December 10, 1805January 14, 1870) was an American pioneer, Congressman, and United States Senator from Wisconsin. He was one of the founders of Kenosha, Wisconsin, and was a Governor of the Utah Territory in the last five ye ...
, Wisconsin legislator and Congressman who moved on to the Free Soil party and then to U.S. Senator as a Republican * Samuel Fessenden, co-founder of the Republican Party and Liberty Party nominee for Maine Governor (1847) *
Ezekiel Holmes Ezekiel Holmes (August 21, 1801 – February 9, 1865) was an American agriculturalist and politician known as the "father of Maine agriculture". Holmes secured the establishment of the University of Maine as an independent institution located in O ...
, Maine state legislator and two-time Liberty Party nominee for Governor *
Abby Kelley Abby Kelley Foster (January 15, 1811 – January 14, 1887) was an American abolitionist and radical social reformer active from the 1830s to 1870s. She became a fundraiser, lecturer and committee organizer for the influential American Anti-Sla ...
, who spoke at the Liberty Party convention (1843), becoming the first American woman to address a national political convention


Notes


References

* * * * ''National Party Conventions 1831–1972'' (1976). Rhodes Cook. Congressional Quarterly. .


Further reading

* Julian P. Bretz. "The Economic Background of the Liberty Party". ''American Historical Review.'' vol. 34. no. 2 (January 1929). pp. 250–264
In JSTOR
* * Reinhard O. Johnson (2009). ''The Liberty Party, 1840–1848: Antislavery Third-Party Politics in the United States.'' Baton Rouge, LA. Louisiana State University Press. * R.L. Morrow, "The Liberty Party in Vermont". ''New England Quarterly.'' vol. 2. no. 2 (April 1929). pp. 234–248
In JSTOR
* Edward Schriver, "Black Politics without Blacks: Maine 1841-1848". ''Phylon.'' vol. 31. no. 2 (1970, Q-II). pp. 194–201
In JSTOR
* Richard H. Sewell, "John P. Hale and the Liberty Party, 1847-1848". ''New England Quarterly.'' vol. 37. no. 2 (June 1964). pp. 200–223
In JSTOR
* Ray M. Shortridge, "Voting for Minor Parties in the Antebellum Midwest". ''Indiana Magazine of History.'' vol. 74. no. 2 (June 1978). pp. 117–134
In JSTOR
* Charles H. Wesley, "The Participation of Negroes in Anti-Slavery Political Parties". ''Journal of Negro History.'' vol. 29. no. 1 (January 1944). pp. 32–74
In JSTOR
* Vernon Volpe (1990). ''Forlorn Hope of Freedom: The Liberty Party in the Old Northwest, 1838-1848''. Kent, OH. Kent State University Press.


External links


The Liberator Files
– items concerning the Liberty Party from Horace Seldon's collection and summary of research of William Lloyd Garrison's ''The Liberator'' original copies at the Boston Public Library, Boston, Massachusetts. {{Authority control Defunct political parties in the United States Political parties established in 1840 Slavery in the United States American abolitionist organizations Political parties in the United States