Final answer:
The Whig Party did not adopt a specific platform related to slavery in the 1840 election; they strategically avoided the issue to maintain national unity and garner broad support for their candidate, General Zachary Taylor. Antislavery Whigs, dissatisfied with this lack of stance, went on to form the Free Soil Party with a clear anti-slavery platform.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the 1840 election, the Whig party did not adopt a specific platform related to slavery. Unlike the emerging Free Soil Party, which directly opposed the expansion of slavery, Whigs aimed to avoid the slavery issue in their presidential campaigns. The Whig nominee, General Zachary Taylor, was a slaveholder and remained deliberately vague on policy stands to gain broader support. Despite some party members' sympathy towards antislavery, the Whig platform strategically did not align with a clear stance on slavery, placing importance on national unity over controversy.
While both the Democrats and Whigs wished to dodge the sensitive subject, antislavery Whigs were dissatisfied and consequently formed their own party. They, along with other antislavery groups, joined the Free Soil Party, which had a clear anti-expansion of slavery platform. In this political climate, the Whig Party's approach during the election focused more on candidate appeal than on polarizing issues such as slavery, contrasting with parties like the Free Soil Party and later the Republican Party, which took explicit stances against the spread of slavery.