Who was the Free-Soil Party's candidate for President?
1 Answer
They nominated 2 candidates in the 1848 and 1852 Presidential races respectively.
Explanation:
The Free Soil Party was created in 1848. The main purpose of this party was to oppose the expansion of slavery westward. A lot of the Party's support came from 2 groups. A groups of Democrats called "Barnburner Democrats" and "Conscience Whigs." Barnburner Democrats were an anti-slavery faction within the Democratic party that was mainly based in New York. The Conscience Whigs was a faction in the Whig party that included many Northern Whigs who also opposed slavery. Historians agree that the Free Soil Party was founded on the basis of limiting/eliminating slavery.
In the Presidential election of 1848, they nominated former Democratic president Martin Van Buren. Buren, who was a Barnburner Democrat, chose Charles Adams, a diplomat and politician who is also the son of John Quincy Adams. In the election, they didn't carry any states or receive any electoral votes. They did get a little over a quarter of a million votes, or about 10% of the popular vote. Compare that to the winner of the election, Zachary Taylor of the Whig Party, who got 47% of the popular vote. Buren was a smart politician and he knew that the Free Soiler's had almost no chance of winning the presidency. So he ran so that he would split the Democratic vote and thus give the presidency to the Whigs. The reason is Buren (a former Democratic president) didn't like the Democratic nominee Lewis Cass and he was disappointed in where the party was headed.
In the Election of 1852, the Free Soil Party did not have as big of an impact or voice than in the 1848 election. They were still the largest 3rd party, but the Compromise of 1850 had a lot of Barnburner Democrats supporting it. In which they returned to the Democratic Party, which depleted the Free Soil Party's base. Also a lot of the Conscience Whigs went back to the Whig party as well. At the party convention, they nominated John Hale, a senator from New Hampshire, as their presidential candidate. They nominated George Washington Julian of Indiana as the Vice Presidential nominee. In that election they received 4.9% of the vote.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 brought back the anti-slavery movement. The Free Soil Party was largely absorbed by the Republican Party. The Free Soil Party was officially dissolved in 1854.
