Liberty Party Convention at Canastota

The 1852 Liberty Party convention attracted delegates from several states and was held at Canastota's Dutch Reformed Church in September of that year. Gerrit Smith of nearby Peterboro attended. Syracuse abolitionist Jermain Loguen was among the vice presidents of the event. Convention business consisted largely of hearing reports of delegates from other states about the climate toward abolition in their areas. Later there was discussion of whether the Party should nominate its own candidates for president and vice president of the United States or support the nominees of “the Free Democracy,” apparently a now-obscure third party that still recognized the legality of slavery. Though Gerrit Smith recommended this step, a majority supported a resolution for the Party not to cooperate with Free Democracy but to nominate its own candidates. A newspaper account of the time suggests that the convention's business was conducted entirely on September 1; other sources maintain that the convention occurred on September 2–3. The reasons for this disagreement are unclear.

Liberty Party convention clipping courtesy of Sarah Kozma.