| 释义 |
free soil, n. and a. U.S.
A. n. Territory in which slaveholding was prohibited.
a1850J. C. Calhoun Wks. (1874) IV. 547 All these, in the slang of the day, were what are called slave territories, and not free soil.
B. adj. The epithet of a political party in 1846–56, which opposed the extension of slavery into the territories; pertaining to this party or its principles.
1848Lowell Biglow P. Poems 1890 II. 143, I went to a free soil meetin' once. 1875N. Amer. Rev. CXX. 69 Mr. Clay was speaking of the antislavery agitators and of the Free-soil party.
So free-soiler, (a) a politician in favour of free soil and opposed to slavery; (b) one who lives on free soil, a free man. free-soilism, the principles of the Free-soil party, opposition to slavery.
1849Longfellow in Life (1891) II. 162 Palfrey, Adams, Sumner..all and several Free-soilers. 1855Fraser's Mag. LI. 675 All the free-soilism of the north will strain its every nerve to [etc.]. 1875N. Amer. Rev. CXX. 73 Tainted with Free⁓soilism or Abolitionism. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. II. iii. lv. 355 The abolitionists and Free Soilers..had for some time previously acted as a group by themselves. |