Free-Soil Party

in United States history, a short-lived anti-slavery party of 1848-55. It united various elements known as the Liberty party, the Conscience Whigs of Massachusetts, and the Barnburners of New York. Its first candidate for the presidency was Martin Van Buren. Its platform declared that Congress had no more power to make a slave than to make a king, and that slavery ought to be kept out of the territories. The battle cry of the campaign was "Free soil, free speech, free labor, and free men." Though the party did not expect to elect the president, it polled 291,263 votes and elected fourteen congressmen in New York, Massachusetts, and Ohio. Four years later the Barnburners returned to the fold of the regular Democracy. In 1856 the rest of the Free-Soilers were absorbed by the newly formed Republican party. See Republican Party