Abstract: Dissertation Project:

Die „Free Soil Party“ vor dem amerikanischen Bürgerkrieg

Formed in early August 1848, the Free Soil Party was an Alliance of anti-slavery forces originating from both major parties that constituted the Second Party System. By joining forces with the small, but zealous Liberty Party, representatives of the Anti-Slavery wings of both the Democrats and the Whigs sought to put the issue of slavery on the national agenda. Although the Free Soil Party existed for only six years and never became an important political factor, its importance cannot be measured by congressional seats or success in presidential elections. After the Free Soil Party became virtually defunct in 1854, its membership and its political ideas were largely absorbed by Abraham Lincolns newly-founded Republican Party. In this new organization, the Free Soilers continued to combat slavery. The importance of the Free Soil Party in the antebellum era and its small, but surprising success in the presidential elections of 1848 and (on a much smaller scale) in 1852 was caused by its treatment of the slavery question. Unlike its predecessor, the Liberty Party, the Free Soil Party took no rock-hard stance towards slavery. For most Free Soilers, slavery was not a predominantly moral problem, but an economic system that acted as competition to the free, white worker. Therefore, the spread of this economic system from slave-holding southern states to newly acquired (and soon-to-be acquired) territories in the west had to be stopped in order to champion free, white labour. This concept of non-extension deeply contrasts earlier concepts of anti-slavery organizations, which emphasized the immoral aspect of slavery and called for an immediate abolition of this institution all over the United States. It is this attitude towards slavery that caused Frederick J. Blue, who wrote the most solid and most exhaustive history of the Free Soil Party to describe the new party as motivated by deeply racist motivations. This is true to some extent – but a closer view of the Free Soilers displays a different picture: Whereas on the national level, the party never took a single step to ease the fate of the slaves in the South or to abolish slavery, its behaviour on the state level shows a wide range of different attitudes towards the black man. In some states, Free Soilers never showed any interest in the black population of their state. In others, like in Ohio, where the Free Soil Party had one of its most important strongholds, Free Soil leaders like Joshua Giddings vigorously fought the states Black Laws, which created a quasi-apartheid system that excluded blacks from schools, public office and the military and gave them significantly less legal protection than it gave to its white citizens. This shows that the view of the Free Soil Party as a political force driven by purely racist motives deserves a closer look. In my opinion, the attitude of the party towards the black man depended not only on the state, but also on the party wing, which was predominant in a particular state. Whereas former Democrats had a tendency towards racist opinions, former members of the Whigs and the Liberty Party often showed a remarkably high degree of openness for the demands of their black fellow citizens. It will be one of the objectives of this dissertation to give a thorough description of the attitude (or the different attitudes) the Free Soil Party had towards race, racialism and blacks and to analyze the importance of these attitudes and their impact on Free Soil politics, mainly on the state level. A second objective of this dissertation concerns a problem that has not yet been examined by historians. All analyses of the Free Soil Party are basically analyses of the leading men of this party. There is not one single piece of historical research that takes a closer look on the electorate. This shortcoming is most likely caused by the scarceness of sources available to researchers until the emergence of web-based newspaper archives and documents opened new ways of obtaining information. It is the second important objective of this dissertation to get away from the predominant notion of the Free Soil Party as a party where many were led by few and to explore the ideas, political opinions and influence the electorate had on the decision-making process of the party.

Andreas Bauer