The Free Soil Party Explained

Mr. Beat tells you everything you need to know about the Free Soil Party, the most important single-issue third party in American history.

#apush #americanhistory #freesoilparty

Produced by Matt Beat. Music by Daniel Lewis Diedrich. All images and video either by Matt Beat, found in the public domain, or used under fair use guidelines.

Sources:

It all started in 1848, with the New York State Democrats. Known as “Barnburners,” they walked out of the states Democratic Party convention after those dang Hunkers voted against the Wilmot Proviso, a proposed law that would have banned slavery in all territory gained by winning the Mexican American War. The “Hunkers” were for the expansion of slavery out west, so they obviously opposed the Wilmot Proviso. The Barnburners were for it, and even were against Lewis Cass, the Democratic Party nominee for President, who proposed popular sovereignty to determine how slavery expanded out west.

So yeah, those Barnburners walked out, leaving the Democratic Party to knock on the door of the Conscience Whigs, or anti-slavery faction of the Whig Party. The Barnburners said, “want to start a new political party?” The Conscience Whigs were like “heck yeah dudes, but let’s get some more people.” So those two groups knocked on the door of the Liberty Party, an abolitionist political party that had existed for 8 years. The Barnburners and Conscience Whigs were like “want to join us so you actually have a chance to win a Presidential election?” and most of the Liberty Party folks said “sure, why not?”

So together they formed the Free Soil Party, holding their first convention on August 9, 1848 in Buffalo, New York. Their slogan? “Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, and Free Men.” Hey...wait a second...what about women? Anyway, they nominated Martin Van Buren for President, the New York native and former President who had lost his re-election bid back in 1840. Noble dudes present at the convention included Salmon Chase, John Hale, and even Walt Whitman.

The Free Soil Party was a pragmatic party. They weren’t necessarily calling for the end of all slavery, although that would be nice. They realized much of the South depended on slave labor. However, they all agreed there were enough slave states. No more! Oh, and several of them opposed slavery not for moral reasons, but because they didn’t want white laborers to have to compete with slaves out west. When some called for giving blacks the right to vote as part of the Free Soil Party’s platform, it actually got shot down. They had issues other than slavery. For example, they wanted more government money for infrastructure, a homestead law, and a way to pay off the debt and a new tariff to pay for it. Tariffs. Ew.

So back to their Presidential candidate, Martin Van Buren, going for re-election again in the election of 1848, which you can find more about here. Go watch it and come back. Everyone else here will wait for you. Ok, thanks for doing that. Now, as you saw in that video, Van Buren lost the election of 1848, getting 10.1% of the popular vote and no electoral votes. But hey, guess what? The Free Soil Party was able to get 12 members elected to Congress that same election, as well as several more members getting elected to state government positions. Most importantly, the party had made slavery a central issue in American politics and raised awareness of the anti-slavery cause.

So the Free Soil Party kept building. However, their momentum came to a quick halt in 1850, thanks to the Compromise of 1850 (sing), which the Free Soil Party officially did not approve of, as it vowed to never compromise on the issue of slavery. I also made a horrible video about the Compromise of 1850, but basically you need to know at this very moment that it was a huge way to at least temporarily calm both the North and South down about the slavery issue. Because it did calm both sides down, the Free Soil Party lost a lot of members. Most Barnburners went back to the Democratic party and most Conscience Whigs went back to the Whig Party. So the moderates left the party, leaving only the hardliner and passionate abolitionists.

[iammrbeat]

What's your favorite political party?

[EmperorTigerstar]

I too support the issue of giving free dirt to gardeners. Wait...am I at the wrong party?

[Jbdhbc]

Now I've got 'Compromise of 1850' stuck in my head. Very interesting window into a segment of American history for a non-American!

[edsova]

Martin Van Beuren created both the Democratic party and the free soil party, and the free soil party became the Republican party. Martin Van Beuren created both major political parties we know today and is the most important man in American politics.

[ezandman]

So van Buren kind of created democratic AND republican party?

[shirtless]

At 2:47 you ask, “what about women?” I am reminded of our high school history class in Daytona Beach (1973-1974). Our teacher, a refined Southern gentlelady, originally from North Carolina, taught us about the Fifteenth Amendment as follows:

TEACHER: Who can tell us what the Fifteenth Amendment did?
STUDENT: It allowed black people to vote.
TEACHER: Did it now? Did it allow black women to vote?
STUDENT: No, ma’am.
TEACHER: Did it allow white women to vote?
STUDENT: No, ma’am.
TEACHER: There you have it, class. This fine country of ours gave black men the right to vote while denying it to white women.

Her lesson is historically accurate, but I imagine that, nowadays, her teaching method would test tenure and academic freedom to its limit.

[excelisfun]

Thank you for yet another amazing video! I had no idea about the Free Soil Party! Thanks, Mr Beat : )

[GenoGeno]

I can't get enough of all your videos! They're so much more entertaining and teach me better and faster than schoolr!

[MrEzman]

Wow Mr. Beat, I was just about to message you requesting a video about this very topic!!! Fun Fact: Not too many historians noticed this, but Martin Van Buren actually spoiled the 1848 presidential election for the Democrats. What do I mean? While he did not win any electoral votes, Van Buren actually finished second in his home state of New York, behind the Whig nominee Zachary Taylor and ahead of the Democratic nominee Lewis Cass. Taylor received 47.9% of the popular vote. In an amazingly strong performance for a third-party candidate, Van Buren received 26.4% of the popular vote, beating out Cass who received 25.1% of the popular vote. Van Buren's candidacy massively split the Democratic vote, seeing as he took a whole 26% of voters who would have otherwise probably voted for Cass. But his second place finish in New York is very important because, if Cass had won the state over Taylor (which very well could have been the case had Van Buren not taken such a large portion of the Democratic vote), it would have been Lewis Cass who was elected our 12th President, not Zachary Taylor.

[blueseanomad]

Welcome back Mr. Beat! Hope you had a good rest!

[RichardBaran]

Thanks for your quality work! I didn't know all of this.

[mathieuleader]

its amazing how something so small has influence on the future

[CosmiaNebula]

So America has a first party, a second party, 37 third parties...
I shudder to imagine how many fourth parties there will be.

[rickyla]

That long pause at the end. hahaha

Great video

[macmacreynolds]

5:36 In my opinion, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, passed by Congress in 1854, was THE leading cause of the Civil War, with the Dred Scott decision in March, 1857 coming in a close second. An honorable, or dishonorable, mention would also go to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

[adeelhussain]

How crazy would it be if the US ever changed Congress to more of a parliamentary system - Now before you call me crazy I know there are drawbacks to this but also positives such as the inclusion of multiple party sets and more diverse opinions - often allowing congress to then form collaboration sets for majorities. I know this won't happen but it would be interesting thought experiment.

[niko]

i really like this video! Keep up the great work buddy! Looking forward to the next video! Love you Mr.

[matheuspenteado]

What is that the Marijuana Party wants to legalize, Mr. Beat? I did not get it...

[johnjones]

"The beautiful Lewis Cass." - Mr. Beat

[leonidverevkin]

Without the Free Soil party we wouldn't have Trump in office, probably.