The Quincy Tribune and Free Soil Banner

In presidential elections third-parties
periodically pop up like morels in the spring and disappear just as quickly. Challenging
the Whig and Democratic Parties in the 1848 canvas was the Free Democratic
Party, or as it became known—the Free Soil Party.

The
Mexican American War beginning in 1846 and ending in 1848 brought forth the
political question of the day. Would slavery be allowed in the newly acquired
territory of Texas, New Mexico, and California? Three times the House of
Representatives passed legislation banning slavery there, and each time the
Senate voted it down.

With
the incumbent, James K. Polk not seeking reelection, the field was wide open. For
many it was time to stop the spread of slavery, and these Americans held out
that it could be done by the electoral system.

The
Whigs selected Gen. Zachary Taylor, Mexican War hero, southern planter, and
owner of 150 slaves, as their candidate. The Democrats chose Michigan Senator
Lewis Cass. Cass sidestepped the issue when he called for “popular sovereignty.”
He declared a territory’s settlers should make the decision on whether to allow
slavery or not.

Both the
antislavery Whigs and Democrats were disillusioned with their respective nominees.
These disgruntled voters joined with the Liberty Party to oppose the growth of
slavery. At a convention in Buffalo, they formed the Free Soil Party and
nominated Martin Van Buren.

To
promote the Free Soil Party locally, a ten-issue campaign newspaper was published
in Quincy and distributed area wide. Officially it was called

The Quincy Tribune and Free Soil Banner

.
Behind the venture were Samuel Willard, Thomas Pope, Timothy Rogers, Allen
Comstock, Lucius Kingman, and Charles B. Lawrence.

The

Free Soil Banner’s

editorial committee
wrote that “the Democratic party has long been . . . ‘the natural ally’ of
slavery” while “the Whig party shows a double front: in the North professing
free principles, in the South defending slavery. . . .” The Free Democracy [Free Soil] party “is
composed of the leading opponents of the Slave Power. . . .” Men who “wish to
forbid the introduction of slavery into new territories; to put an end to it
wherever it exists under the authority of the general government, and to throw
the influence of the nation against slavery and in favor of liberty . . .” Men who stand for “Free Soil, Free Speech,
Free Labor, and Free Men.”

The
committee asked area voters “to drop all former party prejudices and
differences, and unite with us to rescue our government from the slave power,
and make it once more the BULWARK OF FREEDOM and the HOPE OF THE WORLD.”

The Whig
candidate Zachary Taylor won the election and became president but lost
Illinois by 3,247 votes. Statewide the Free Soil Party garnered 15,774 votes
with Adams County providing 251.

The

Banner’s

last issue pointed out the irony of the election. They wrote that the Whig
Party nominated a man for president simply due to his success in war. A
conflict the Whig Party “branded as an unjust war.”

Not
defeated, the Free Soil Quincy committee stated that the struggle to end
slavery would “be long and difficult, but this world and this country don’t
belong to the devil, and there is no doubt of the final result.”

What
became of the six men who published

The
Quincy Tribune and Free Soil Banner

?

In 1848,
Samuel Willard was a Quincy physician and an abolitionist. Before Quincy, the
Willard’s family home in Jacksonville was a station on the Underground
Railroad. In February 1843, both Samuel and his father, Julius, were caught, convicted
and fined for assisting a runaway slave. Dr. Willard continued in politics and was
a secretary at first Illinois State Republican Party convention in 1856. During
the Civil War, he served as a regimental surgeon with the 97th
Illinois Infantry.

Thomas
Pope’s family came from New York to Quincy in 1837. Over the next 60 years Pope
partnered in a number of Quincy retail businesses. His first presidential vote
was for the Liberty Party’s James G. Birney in 1844. He had “at all times and under all
circumstances . . . the courage of his convictions,” wrote the

Daily Herald

at Pope’s death in 1900.
This was especially true “during the troublesome and critical times preceding
the rebellion. . . .” His oldest son “gave his life for his country in the
Civil War.”

Timothy
Rogers came to Quincy from Connecticut in November 1838, and practiced his
trade of wagon maker. At his death in 1889, the

Quincy Whig

wrote that at one time Rogers had “the largest wagon
factory in the west.” For a number of years he owned and operated Quincy’s
Occidental Hotel.

Allen
Comstock arrived in Quincy in the mid-1830s and opened a general store. In
1846, he and his brother Enoch built a foundry and began manufacturing stoves.
Timothy Castle and Frederick Collins became partners in the fledgling company,
which still operates in Quincy today.

Lucius
Kingman settled in Quincy in 1830. Kingman was John Tillson’s partner in the real
estate and land business. At his death in 1882, the

Daily Whig

stated with the arrival of the government land office in
Quincy in 1836, “Mr. Kingman was perhaps more associated with land transfers
than any other person in this part of the State.

In 1845,
Charles B. Lawrence, a Middlebury College graduate, came to Quincy to practice
law. The

Herald’s

obituary stated
that he was associated with Archibald Williams, and “this firm was recognized .
. . as one of the ablest in the State.” Lawrence left Quincy in 1856, settling
in Galesburg where in 1859 he was elected circuit judge. In July 1864, Judge
Lawrence was elected to the state Supreme Court and later served as the Chief
Justice. At his death in 1883, a letter to the

Herald

commented that Lawrence “earnestly espoused the Free Soil
movement of Van Buren and Adams.”

Sources

Boyer, Paul S., Ed. In Chief,

The Oxford Companion to United States
History

, New York: Oxford
University Press, 2001.

The
History of Adams County, Illinois

, Chicago: Murray, Williamson & Phelps,
1879.

Jacksonville
Daily Journal

,
February 12, 1913.

Kofoid, Carrie P., “Puritan Influences in
Illinois before 1860,”

Transactions of
the Illinois State

Historical Society for the year
1905,

Publication
No. 10, Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State
Journal Co., State Printers, 1919.

Nevins, Allan,

Ordeal of the Union, Fruits of manifest Destiny 1847-1852

, New
York: Charles Scribner’s
Sons, 1947.

Quincy
Daily Herald

, April
21, 1900; February 10, 1913.

Quincy
Daily Journal

, April
14, 1897; January 7, 1889.