Liberty Power
Antislavery Third Parties and the Transformation of American Politics
Publication supported by the Bevington Fund
- Contents
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- Awards

Chapter One
Political Abolition and the Slave Power Argument, 1835–1840
Interlude One
“Bowing Down to the Slave Power”: Northern Whigs, Slavery, and the Speakership, 1839
Chapter Two
Agitating the Congress: Abolitionist Lobbying and Antislavery Alliances, 1836–1844
Interlude Two
“A Temporary ‘Third Party’”: Antislavery Whig Dissidents in the 1841 Speakership Contest
Chapter Three
Building Third-Party Electoral Power, 1841–1846
Chapter Four
Antislavery Upheaval in the Capitol: The Wilmot Proviso Debates and the Widening Sectional Divide, 1846–1848
Interlude Three
“Let the Lines Be Drawn”: Conscience Whig Insurgency and the 1847 Speakership Election
Chapter Five
Liberty Men and the Creation of an Anti–Slave Power Coalition, 1846–1849
Interlude Four
“Glorious Confusion in the Ranks”: The Free Soil Balance of Power, 1849
Chapter Six
Free Soil Politics and the Twilight of the Second Party System, 1849–1853
Chapter Seven
The Nebraska Outrage and the Advent of the Republican Party, 1853–1855
Interlude Five
“A New Era in Our History”: The Longest Speakership Contest in American History and the First Republican National Victory, 1855–1856
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Notes
Index
Center for Political History, Lebanon Valley College: Sally & Morris Lasky Prize
Finalist
History: American History
Political Science: American Government and Politics | Race and Politics
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