"The Liberty Party was an abolitionist political party in the United States prior to the American Civil War. The party experienced its greatest activity during the 1840s, while remnants persisted as late as 1860. It supported James G. Birney in the presidential elections of 1840 and 1844. Others who attained prominence as leaders of the Liberty Party included Gerrit Smith, Salmon P. Chase, Henry Highland Garnet, Henry Bibb, and William Goodell. The attempted to work within the federal system created by the United States Constitution to diminish the political influence of the Slave Power and advance the cause of universal emancipation and an integrated, egalitarian society."

• Liberty Party on wikipedia.. note: The party initially went by a number of different names, including the Human Rights Party, the Abolition Party, and the Freemen's Party. The 1841 national convention held at Albany selected the "Liberty Party" as the movement's official name.
  • After 1837, the Democratic Party leadership sought actively to expel antislavery Jacksonians such as Thomas Morris and John P. Hale whose principled opposition to slavery was seen as a threat to party unity.
  • (An) assembly nominated James G. Birney for president and called for a national convention of political abolitionists to meet at Albany, New York to organize the new party.[11] The Albany convention was attended by 121 delegates from six states who nominated Birney for president and Thomas Earle for vice president on April 1, 1840.
  • electoral tickets pledged to Birney and Earle were organized in every free state
  • Birney polled fewer than 7,000 votes in the 13 states where there were electors pledged to him; in four of these (Connecticut, Indiana, New Jersey, and Rhode Island) he received fewer than 100 votes. He received no votes from the slave states

State by State

candidates for office in six states

Pennsylvania

1845 candidate list in Philadelphia County includes John Bouvier for Mayor; W.B.Thomas for Pa. State Senate

key figures

• Bibb, Henry (1815-1854) • Kentucky to Ohio (escaped slavery)
• Birney, James (1792-1857) • Kentucky
• Bouvier, John (1787-1851) • exemplary jurist • Philadelphia • John Bouvier
• Chase, Salmon P. (1808-1873) • New Hampshire to Ohio
• Earle, Thomas (1796-1849) • Massachusetts
• Garnet, Henry Highland (1815-1882) • Maryland > New York (escaped slavery)
• Goodell, William (1792-1878) • New York & Rhode Island
• Hale, John P. (1806-1873) • New Hampshire
• Morris, Thomas (1776-1844) • Ohio
• Smith Gerrit (1797-1874) • New York