Wilmot Proviso
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The Wilmot Proviso, was first suggested on August 8, 1846 in the House of Representatives and attached to many bills in the United States Congress, to outlaw slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico by the United States as a result of the recently begun Mexican-American War. The proviso was named for Congressman David Wilmot, a Democrat from Pennsylvania. It was never passed in Congress due to opposition in the Senate led by John C. Calhoun. The Free Soil Party formed in support of the Wilmot Proviso, and their platform of Free Soil was later adopted by the Republican Party, which Wilmot helped initiate.
[edit] Effects
It was under the Wilmot Proviso that California first applied for statehood, before later entering the union under the principle of popular sovereignty as championed by the compromise of 1850. The proviso pushed the country closer to civil war; it raised questions about slaves that had not been asked previously. Southerners saw slaves as property, and since their rights to property were protected under the United States Constitution, they believed that they could take slaves wherever they wished. This led to strong opposition to any attempts to ban slavery while the country was expanding. The amendment was never actually adopted by Congress and was in fact expressly repudiated in the Compromise of 1850 and its content declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case.
Although known as the Wilmot Proviso, it originated with Jacob Brinkerhoff of Pennsylvania; Wilmot was selected to present it only because his party standing was more regular. The extension of the principle to territory other than that to be acquired from Mexico can likely be attributed to New York Senator Preston King.
