The Wilmot Proviso

Shortly after the Mexican-American War, the question of slavery in territories extended to the newly-acquired Mexican cession. One viewpoint of how this territory should be settled was that of the northern Democrats, who were "jealous of the power of the South" and who sought to establish the Mexican cession as territory free from slavery.

Pennsylvanian Congressman David Wilmot proposed an amendment such as this. Like most Northerners, Wilmot, while opposed to slavery, was not racially accepting; thus he gained support by associating his Proviso with the plight of the white laborer, giving him a chance to settle in this territory "without the disgrace which association brings on white labor."

"Provided that, as an express and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any territory from the Republic of Mexico by the United States...neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of said territory, except for crime, whereof the party shall first be duly convicted"

Although backed also by northern Whigs and passed by the House, the Wilmot Proviso was not passed by the Senate. The Proviso furthered sectional tensions; while most of the North supported this "Free-Soil" mindset, the South asserted that southerners should be able to take their slaves into any territories they wished--a proposition on the opposite end of the spectrum from the Wilmot Proviso. Once more, it was found a compromise was needed to settle a sectional issue.


Divine, Robert A., T. H. Breen, George M. Fredrickson, and R. Hal Williams. America Past and Present. Revised Sixth Edition, AP* Edition . Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc., 2003. 392. Print.


"The Wilmot Proviso, 1846." Vincent Ferraro, Resources for the Study of International Relations and Foreign Policy. Mount Holyoke College, 01 Feb 2010. Web. 14 Oct 2010. <http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/wilmot.htm>.