Liberty Party (1840s)

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James G. Birney (ca.1844)

The Liberty Party was a small party founded in the United States in 1839 . It represented the cause of abolitionism as the first party in America and represented a split from the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS). Unlike the AASS, the Liberty Party under the leadership of James G. Birney saw the possibility on the basis of the American constitution to fight for the prohibition of slavery. In 1848, most of its members joined the Free Soil Party , and more joined the newly formed Republicans in 1854 . After 1860, the Liberty Party ceased to exist as an independent party.

founding

In 1839 there were disputes within the AASS about the extent to which the establishment of an abolitionist third party alongside the Democrats and Whig Party would make sense. The radical faction within the AASS saw the political struggle in the face of the American constitution as hopeless, while their opponents considered it important to participate in the legislative process and subsequently split off from the AASS. As the first anti-slavery party in United States history , the Liberty Party was founded on November 13, 1839 at a meeting in Warsaw, Wyoming County (New York) , New York . Prominent supporters of the Liberty Party were initially Samuel Ringgold Ward , Henry Highland Garnet , Gerrit Smith and Salmon P. Chase . Political actions by the party included the boycott of agricultural products and other goods from the southern states .

Nomination party congresses

The first National Convention followed on April 1, 1840 in Albany and nominated Birney as a presidential candidate for elections that year . As concrete party goals it was decided to move the members of the American Congress to a stricter stance on the slave question, to end slavery in the District of Columbia, to stop the slave trade between the states and to ban slavery in the federal territories. In addition, the Liberty Party rejected both the three-fifths clause and the still valid Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 . Since the top candidate Birney was not in America during the election campaign, but took part in conferences of the anti-slavery movement in the United Kingdom until November 1840 , and the campaign of the Liberty Party was generally poorly organized, it only received a little over 7,000 votes in the end . There was also a dispute within the party about whether the liberation of the slaves should remain the only party's goal or whether the program should not be expanded.

At the next nomination convention in Buffalo in August 1843 , Birney was again elected as a presidential candidate for the 1844 election . This outvoted Chase, who had voted for John Quincy Adams and William H. Seward as the top candidates. As a result, Birney angered sections of the party when he ran for the Democrats in the Michigan gubernatorial election of 1845. In the presidential election of 1844, the Liberty Party received 62,000 votes, of which 15,800 were in New York State . Since this went to the Democrat James K. Polk with a majority of only 5,100 votes , this possibly prevented the victory of the Whig candidate Henry Clay , as the electors of New York were decisive for the election of Polk as president.

Free Soil Party

The November 1847 National Convention in New York City elected John P. Hale as a presidential candidate. However, in view of the establishment of the Free Soil Party in 1848, this waived in favor of its candidate, the former President Martin Van Buren . Most of the members of the Liberty Party also switched to the Free Soil, but for a minority this was not radical enough, a second assembly elected Gerrit Smith as a presidential candidate. However, this only received 2545 votes, which was a little less than 0.1%, and could not record any electoral votes. In 1852 , 1856, and 1860 , the party continued to put forward candidates for presidential election, but was even less successful.

literature

  • Corey M. Brooks: Liberty Power: Antislavery Third Parties and the Transformation of American Politics. University of Chicago Press, Chicago 2016, ISBN 978-0-226-30728-2 .
  • Reinhard O. Johnson: The Liberty Party, 1840-1848: Antislavery Third-Party Politics in the United States . Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge 2009, ISBN 978-0-8071-3393-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Junius P. Rodriguez: Encyclopedia of Emancipation and Abolition in the Transatlantic World (Volume 1-3) . Routledge, New York City 2007, ISBN 978-0-7656-1257-1 , p. 339
  2. ↑ a b Junius P. Rodriguez (Ed.): Slavery in the United States: A Social, Political, and Historical Encyclopedia (Volume One) . ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara (CA) 2007, ISBN 978-1-8510-9544-5 , p. 46
  3. ↑ a b Junius P. Rodriguez: Encyclopedia of Emancipation and Abolition in the Transatlantic World (Volume 1-3) . Routledge, New York City 2007, ISBN 978-0-7656-1257-1 , p. 340
  4. ↑ Junius P. Rodriguez (Ed.): Slavery in the United States: A Social, Political, and Historical Encyclopedia (Volume One) . ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara (CA) 2007, ISBN 978-1-8510-9544-5 , p. 48
  5. ↑ Junius P. Rodriguez (Ed.): Slavery in the United States: A Social, Political, and Historical Encyclopedia (Volume One) . ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara (CA) 2007, ISBN 978-1-8510-9544-5 , p. 50
  6. ↑ Liberty Party , on ourcampaigns.com 30 June, 2012. retrieved November 6, 2019
  7. ^ Proceedings of the Convention of Radical Political Abolitionists , wvculture.org 2019, accessed November 6, 2019