The United States was at war with Mexico in 1846. As it became apparent the U.S. would win the war and acquire new territory as a result, Congress began debating how the territory would be administered. More importantly, debate began over whether or not slavery would be allowed in these new regions.
Since the Missouri Compromise of 1820, most politicians had avoided the divisive slavery issue, but it now reappeared on the national stage. The issue was also beginning to split the parties; northern Democrats were voicing dissatisfaction with their southern counterparts while Whigs tried staying quiet to avoid exposing sectional differences within their ranks.
In August 1846, President James K. Polk requested $2 million to negotiate an end of the war with Mexico. As the House of Representatives debated whether or not to approve the request, Democratic Representative David Wilmot of Pennsylvania introduced an amendment. This amendment, called the Wilmot Proviso, would prohibit slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico.
The Intent of Wilmot and Congress
Wilmot’s purpose in introducing this proviso was to keep the new territories open to white settlement only so white free labor did not have to compete with black slave labor. The Wilmot Proviso introduced the notion of “free soil” in American politics, or the notion that slavery should be left alone where it already existed but should be banned by Congress from expanding.
The idea that Congress could prohibit the expansion of slavery angered many Southerners, even though most knew that the climate in the new territories was not favorable to slave labor and slavery would most likely not be instituted there. Wilmot’s proposal was viewed as an insult to southern honor and a threat to southern equality in the Union.
The bill passed the House with the Wilmot Proviso attached; the vote was more along sectional than party lines as northern Democrats and Whigs voted in favor and southern Democrats and Whigs voted against. However Congress adjourned before the bill could be voted upon in the Senate, and it was not implemented.
When the next session of Congress convened, Polk again requested funds to negotiate with Mexico, and again a bill was introduced with the Wilmot Proviso attached. The bill passed the House a second time but the Senate voted in favor of a modified version without the proviso attached. When it returned to the House for approval, twenty-two Democrats changed their original votes and approved the new bill without the Wilmot Proviso.
The Proviso’s Defeat Adds to Sectional Tension
The Mexican-American War ended in 1848 with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. When the Senate debated ratifying the treaty, northern senators tried attaching the Wilmot Proviso to the treaty. However southern senators defeated the motion and the treaty was ratified without the Wilmot Proviso attached. Thus there would be no congressional ban on slavery in any new territories acquired from Mexico.
Although the Wilmot Proviso was defeated, its implications were significant. Many Southerners began believing that support for the proviso showed the true northern contempt for the southern way of life. The proviso also exposed a split in the Democratic Party at the 1848 national convention. When anti-proviso candidate Lewis Cass was nominated to run for president, pro-proviso Democrats left to form the Free Soil Party. This was the first political party created to directly address the slavery issue on a national level.
The Whigs ignored the Wilmot Proviso altogether and nominated General Zachary Taylor, hero of the Mexican-American War, to run for president. Taylor was a southern slaveholder who took no public stance on the issue. In the North, Taylor’s military success trumped his southern heritage and he was elected president. Once inaugurated, Taylor urged the new territories be immediately moved to state status, thus bypassing the entire debate. This only caused more sectional animosity.
Along with other slavery-related issues, the Wilmot Proviso led to the Compromise of 1850, which only postponed civil war for another decade. Moderates hailed the compromise as finally resolving the sectional issues involving slavery and the territories. However the animosity between North and South soon overrode this temporary solution. Historians have pointed to the Wilmot Proviso as the first step toward the national division that ultimately led to the Civil War.
Sources
Davis, Kenneth C.: Don't Know Much About the Civil War (New York, NY: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1996)
Woods Jr., Thomas E.: The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History (Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2004)
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