Question

_____ strongly insisted that new western settlements should be free of slavery (free soil) since slavery's expansion would undermine the people's right to work for themselves (free labor).

Answer 1

This was the Free Soil party, founded in the 1850s. They were the forebears of the Republican (and National Union) Party. The party felt that this was more of an economic issue than a civil rights issue, and worked to make sure that slavery was not to spread to the western states once they joined the Union.