Political Anti-slavery Strategy:Liberty Party(1840-1848)

The first half of the 19 th century was the most complicated period of the domestic political situation in the United States.With the emergence of a series of social reform movements,the consciousness of freedom and equality awakened,and the differences in economic development between the North and the South widened in the 1830 s,people began to reflect on slavery,espacially in the impact of slavery on the American economy.On April 1,1840,along with the internal division among abolitionists,the American Liberal Party was founded under the leadership of the political abolitionist faction,a third party committed to the abolition of slavery through political means was formally established.After the establishment of the American Liberal Party,it played an important role in the party politics before the Civil War,launched a series of struggle for voice in both the Congress and the local council.The party s political discourse was dominated by the abolition of slavery,liberals tried to expand their political influence by lobbying members of Congress to support the abolition of slavery,distributing abolitionist brochures in Congress,running for state legislators,and so on.The emergence of the Liberal Party was an important turning point in the abolitionist movement,which completely changed the struggle methods of the former abolitionist movement and brought the topic of abolitionist to the center of national politics.Although the Liberal Party did not directly promote the abolition of slavery in the end,the expression of its political discourse led to the reconsideration of slavery in American politics and aroused the strong opposition among the Northern people to the slavery.The core of the Liberal Party s idea was inherited by the Republican Party founded in 1854.The expression of his political discourse laid a solid foundation for the abolition of slavery completely and the struggle for racial equality in the 1860 s.On the context of combing the development of the American Liberal Party and its political abolitionist ideas,this article describes the reasons for the political abolitionist thought of Liberal Party.Through the study of the Liberal Party and its political practice activities,the author strives to comprehensively explain its political abolitionist thought and demonstrate the image of a complete abolitionist third party.By summarizing,this paper explores the influence and historical status of the Liberty Party and its political abolitionist thought,and reflects on its methods of political struggle.