Liberty party, in U.S. history, an antislavery political organization founded in 1840. It was formed by those abolitionists abolitionists, in U.S. history, particularly in the three decades before the Civil War, members of the movement that agitated for the compulsory emancipation of the slaves.
..... Click the link for more information. , under the leadership of James G. Birney Birney, James Gillespie (bûr`nē), 1792–1857, American abolitionist, b. Danville, Ky.
..... Click the link for more information. and Gerrit Smith Smith, Gerrit, 1797–1874, American reformer, b. Utica, N.Y. He spent much of his fortune in various reforms, most notably abolition. He was an organizer of the Liberty party and was candidate for governor of New York in 1840.
..... Click the link for more information. , who repudiated William Lloyd Garrison's nonpolitical stand. Birney, their presidential candidate in 1840, received a little more than 7,000 votes. Because of better local organization and the issue of the annexation of Texas, he polled more than 60,000 votes in 1844, drawing enough support away from Henry Clay in New York state to throw the presidency to James K. Polk. The party remained strong in local elections in 1846, but in 1848 it withdrew its nominee, John P. Hale, and united with antislavery Whigs and Democrats to form the stronger Free-Soil party Free-Soil party, in U.S. history, political party that came into existence in 1847–48 chiefly because of rising opposition to the extension of slavery into any of the territories newly acquired from Mexico.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Bibliography

See T. C. Smith, The Liberty and Free Soil Parties in the Northwest (1897, repr. 1967).

Liberty Party

(1840–48) U.S. political party formed by a splinter group of abolitionists. It was created by Arthur Tappan and Theodore Weld in opposition to William Lloyd Garrison, who scorned political action as a futile way to end slavery. At its first party convention in 1840, James Birney was nominated for U.S. president. By 1844 the party had influenced undecided legislators in many local elections to adopt antislavery stands. In 1848 it dissolved when many of its members joined the Barnburners (see Hunkers and Barnburners) to form the Free Soil Party.