subs. phr. (obsolete American political).—See quots. and HARD-SHELL. Also SOFTS and SOFT-SHELL Democrats.
1858. Report of Meeting Co. of Orleans, Sept., Resolved. That the terms Hunker, Barnburner, SOFT-SHELL, and Hardshell have become obsolete, and hereafter we will be known only by the term Democrat.
1809. Century Dictionary, s.v. SOFT. II. 2. In U.S. politics: (a) A member or an adherent of that one of the two factions into which in 1852 and succeeding years the Democratic party in the State of New York was divided which was less favorable to the extension of slavery. (b) A member of the pro-slavery wing of the Democratic party in Missouri about 1850.
