Conspicuous among them was Marcus Morton, who had been Governor and one of our ablest Supreme Court judges, and his son, afterward Chief Justice, then just rising into distinction as a lawyer.

The members of the Liberty Party also, who had cast votes for Birney in 1844, were ready for the new movement.

But the Free Soil Party derived its chief strength, both of numbers and influence, from the Whigs.

The Anti-Slavery Whigs clung to Webster almost to the last.

He had disappointed them by opposing the resolution they offered at the Whig State Convention, pledging the party to support no candidate not known by his acts or declared opinions to be opposed to the extension of slavery.