The Liberty Party in Massachusetts, 1840-1848: Antislavery Third Party Politics in the Bay State

Abstract

Liberty party in Massachusetts has received little serious attention from either political historians or scholars of the abolition movement despite its central role in the national development of the antislavery party, its importance in the transformation of the abolition movement from a predominantly apolitical approach of the 1830s to a more direct political involvement in the 1840s, and its place in the political history of the Bay State during the 1840s.1 In fact, theLibertypartywasthefirst third party in American history to attempt to break into a stable two party system, and it would not be until the Populist party that a third party would have as long a national existence. Politics in Massachusetts were chaotic during the early 1830s, but by the last years of the decade a competitive two party system had emerged. Both Democrats and Whigs were well organized, and party loyalties were strong. Neither political organization, however, responded very favorably to therapidly growingnumberofindividuals in favor of immediate emancipation of the slaves.2 Membership in abolition organizations grew from the twelve charter members oftheNew England Anti-Slavery Societyin 1832 to almost one hundred local societies when the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society was founded in 1835as a memberoftherecentlyformedAmericanAntiSlavery Society.3 These organizations were active throughout the 1830s 1 standard book on antislavery politics is Richard Sewell's Ballots for Freedom: Antishvery Politics in the United States, 1837-1860 (New York, 1976), which surveys the party nationally but neglects its local importance in the various states. Aileen Kraditor, The Liberty and Free Soil Parties, in Arthur Schlesinger, ed., History of U.S. Political Parties (New York, 1973), pp. 741-882, summarizes the ideas she first expressed in her Means and Ends in American Abolitionism: Garrison and His Critics on Strategy and Tactics, 1834-1850 (New York, 1969).