The Free-Soil Party and Its Relationship with Labor

Abstract

The Free-Soil Party of the late 1840s and early 1850s championed the slogan, “Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men.” However, their relationship with the burgeoning working class in the antebellum north remains relatively nebulous. This paper investigates how the average laborer felt about the Free-Soil Party and how (or if) the Free-Soil Party attempted to improve the life of the working class. Using rhetoric from the Free-Soilers in Congress, abolitionist publications, and voting data it becomes clear that the Free-Soil Party, while not an explicitly pro-labor organization, was the only antebellum party—and perhaps the only American party ever—chiefly concerned with matters of labor and its implementation.