Toward a Moderate Antislavery Politics: Free Soil Democrats and the Making of the Free Soil Party

Voiceover

Presenter(s)

Jack Carlson

Abstract or Description

Recent scholarship on antislavery politics has focused on the influence of political radicalism on the formation of antislavery political parties. Scholars have correctly pointed to the radicalism of abolitionists and other opponents of slavery as central to the rise of antislavery parties such as the Free Soil Party. But this scholarship has overlooked the essential role played by moderate antislavery politics in the formation of the Free Soil Party. Accordingly, my research focuses on the contribution of moderate antislavery politics, such as the free soil ideology and opposition to slavery's expansion, to the broader ideology of the Free Soil Party. It has departed from recent historical scholarship by contending that moderate antislavery politics was integral to widening the antislavery electorate and transforming slavery from a state into a national issue, and that the turn toward political moderation rather than radicalism helped further antislavery politics nationally. I have drawn from the work of contemporary historians while also arguing that their emphasis on the influence of radical antislavery proponents is misplaced. In contrast to their work, I have put forward my interpretation that the effort of the Free Soil Party to place the issue of slavery and its expansion at the center of national politics is best attributed to its politically moderate, rather than radical, stance on slavery. My research ultimately argues that the influence of moderate antislavery politics was the most crucial factor in the ascent and partial success of the Free Soil Party, and antislavery politics more broadly, from 1848 until 1854.

Mentor

Thomas Summerhill