Secondary sourceDocument1848

1848 Free Soil and Liberty National Conventions

1848

Records of the 1848 conventions that nominated Martin Van Buren for president on the Free Soil Party's antislavery platform.

Van Buren was nominated for president by this convention, running on an antislavery platform that broke with his old party.

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Brown cloth book cover with a Library of Congress call number label reading E 420 .F88 at top left, and a white Library of Congress barcode label reading 00005023312 with a red dot at lower left. — Records of the 1848 Free Soil and Liberty National Conventions, 1848.

About this source

What it is

This document concerns the national conventions of the Free Soil and Liberty parties held in 1847 and 1848 to choose candidates for the 1848 presidential election. At the Buffalo convention in August 1848, former President Martin Van Buren was nominated for president with Charles Francis Adams Sr. as his running mate.

Why it matters

The Free Soil Party united abolitionists, antislavery Whigs, and dissatisfied Democrats to oppose the spread of slavery into new territories. Van Buren's candidacy, built on the platform of 'Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, and Free Men,' marked a dramatic shift for a former Democratic president and shows how the slavery issue was reshaping American politics.

Look closer

Why might a former president join a new third party rather than stay with his old one?
What does the enthusiasm described at the convention suggest about the mood of the delegates?
How did Van Buren's run affect the outcome of the 1848 election?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Martin Van Buren on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.