pertaining to or opposing the extension of slavery in the Territories.
pertaining to or characteristic of the Free Soil party.
An Americanism dating back to 1840–50
An Americanism dating back to 1840–50
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Residents who live in the KCD service area, which includes most of the cities and unincorporated areas in King County, are eligible for up to five free soil tests.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 11, 2023
She escaped to free soil in Pennsylvania more than a century and a half ago, only returning to the Eastern Shore for the rescues of enslaved people.
From New York Times ● Jun. 21, 2022
So what happened was, Dred Scott was an enslaved man whose owners had taken him to free soil, in Wisconsin and Illinois.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2021
Free Black families who encountered her there may have clued her in about the legally free soil of California.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2021
Arriving on New York’s free soil, he later wrote, “A new world burst upon my agitated vision.”
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
Scott’s supporters enlisted, pro bono, the famous free-soil politician and lawyer Montgomery Blair to take his case, and under Blair’s legal leadership, Scott appealed to the U.S.
From New York Times ● Dec. 21, 2022
Cass also failed to specify just when a territory could exercise the free-soil option.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018
In December 1845, some of these free-soil Democrats joined northern Whigs to repeal the hated gag rule against antislavery petitions, but the president ignored their underlying complaints.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018
Finally, in Kansas, the free-soil majority voted against the pro-slavery constitution in a fair election.
From Salon ● Feb. 21, 2011
Polk was elected by free-soil votes cast for Birney, which, had Clay received them, would have carried New York and Michigan for him and thus elected him; but the result was hailed as indorsing annexation.
From History of the United States, Volume 3 by Andrews, Elisha Benjamin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
