Wilmot Proviso

• “The Wilmot Proviso was a proposal by Democratic representative David Wilmot of Pennsylvania in response to President James Polk request to Congress in August 1846 for $2 million to help him negotiate peace and settle the boundary with Mexico. David Wilmot attached his proposal, known as the Wilmot Proviso, to President James K. Polk's funding measure.”

• The purpose of the Wilmot Proviso was that slave territories were not decided on during the start of the Mexican-American War. The Proviso stated that none of the territory acquired during the war should allow slavery. David Wilmot and many northerners felt that the proviso was necessary because the southerners were pro-slavery and they wanted to start an anti-slavery movement.

• The House of Representatives passed the bill, however they needed approval from both houses of Congress, and the bill stalled in the Senate where the house have much southern support

• Even though the Wilmot proviso stalled in the Senate, it still created a controversy over slavery and much debate happened over the issue

• The Wilmot Proviso was passed for the second time by the House of Representatives and this time the Senate was forced to consider the amendment

• Under John C. Calhoun and pro-slavery senators, the Senate rejected the second Wilmot Proviso, approving the funds for negotiations from the Mexican-American War without the bill in place.

http://www.american-historama.org/1841-1850-westward-expansion/wilmot-proviso.htm