BY the spring of 1847 the Maine Liberty Party was embroiled in a party-wide debate over whether to broaden its platform or to keep it dedicated solely to antislavery.? At first the Maine leaders, particularly Samuel Fessenden, a Portland lawyer, and Austin Willey, a Congregational ministereditor, rejected the proposals of William Goodell, the former editor of The Emancipator, and his friends to expand the platform of the Party, believing that it was wiser to remain true to the original intentions of the founders. Fessenden, fearing the dangers inherent in adopting additional political principles, exhorted Joshua Leavitt, editor of The Emancipator, to remain resolute in opposition to the new principles. "On questions subordinate to the great question, shall slavery continue to exist in and rule this nation," Fessenden advised, "I do not expect, nor ask, Liberty Party men to agree.'"2 Willey supported the view of the Portland lawyer. Writing to Gerrit Smith, one of the stalwarts of the Liberty Party, he warned of the utter folly of following the advice of Goodell. "That an attempt to incorporate his principles into the Liberty Party will destroy it," Willey continued, "is about as certain to my mind as any numerical proposition."3 The fate of the Liberty Party in Maine, as well as in the nation, both Fessenden and Willey agreed, depended upon the exclusion of additional political principles. "Shall the Liberty Party," Willey asked, "be dissolved or maintained as it is."'