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The Liberty Party was a minor political party in the US that advocated for the abolition of slavery. It united with other abolitionists to form the Free Soil Party, which won 10% of the vote in 1848. The party’s leaders worked within the framework of US law to achieve their goals. The issue of slavery divided Americans in the 1840s, with North American states outlawing it while Southern states still depended on it. The American Anti-Slavery Society called for immediate emancipation, but the Liberty Party was established due to differences over rhetoric. The party aimed to pressure the federal government to separate itself from slavery and declared the Fugitive Slave Clause void. The party’s members helped form the Free Soil Party, which focused on immediate political goals and was absorbed into the Republican Party by 1854.
The Liberty Party was a political party in the United States that advanced an anti-slavery platform in the 1840s. The party has always been a minor political party; the highest national percentage of the vote it garnered was 2.3 percent in the 1844 election. The abolitionist movement, however, gained strength in the years leading up to the American Civil War. Many members of the Liberty Party united with other abolitionists to form the Free Soil Party, which won 10% of the national vote in the 1848 presidential election. The Liberty Party was different from other abolitionist movements in that its leaders were willing to work in the framework of US law to achieve their goals.
The 1840s was a decade of growing friction on the issue of slavery in the United States. The United Kingdom abolished slavery throughout much of its empire in 1833. Advocates of manifest destiny, or the westward expansion of the United States, managed to establish new territories on the American frontier. North American states had largely outlawed slavery, while most Southern states still depended heavily on slave labor. Whether slavery would be legal in the new territories was an issue increasingly dividing Americans in the 1840s.
In 1833, American social reformer William Lloyd Garrison founded the American Anti-Slavery Society. The society unreservedly called for the immediate emancipation of all slaves in the United States. Garrison wrote a statement accusing slave holders of being sinners and stealers of men. He also despised the US Constitution and ridiculed the political process as a means to further abolitionism. Differences over the rhetoric of the American Anti-Slavery Society, which sparked significant opposition, was one reason the Liberty Party was established.
The Liberty Party’s first national convention took place in Albany, New York on April 1, 1840. An early goal was to pressure the United States federal government to separate itself from the practice of slavery. The Fugitive Slave Clause of the Constitution provided that escaped slaves were returned to their previous owners if they were caught by the authorities of any state. The Liberty Party declared the clause void.
Despite little success in the presidential election, the Liberty Party has promoted the abolitionist cause within American politics. A majority of members left the party to help form the Free Soil Party in 1848. The Free Soil Party eschewed inflammatory rhetoric and focused on immediate political goals. For example, he fought to eliminate laws that discriminate against freed blacks in the state of Ohio. By 1854, the Free Soil Party’s political platform had gone mainstream, and the party was largely absorbed into the Republican Party.
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