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[[Image:Davidwilmot.jpg|right|thumb|David Wilmot, the author of Wilmot Proviso]]

[[Image:Davidwilmot.jpg|right|thumb|David Wilmot, the author of Wilmot Proviso]]

The '''Wilmot Proviso''' was a proposal, never adopted, for Congress to forbid the expansion of slavery into the Southwest, especially New Mexico. It inflamed sectional tensions and helped cause the [[American Civil War]]. During the [[Mexican-American War]] President [[James K. Polk]] asked Congress for $2 million to negotiate peace; everyone understood the money would be used to buy Mexican territories. On Aug. 8, 1846, David Wilmot, a [[U.S. Democratic Party, history|Democratic]] Congressman from Pennsylvania, proposed an amendment:  

The '''Wilmot Proviso''' was a proposal, never adopted, for Congress to forbid the expansion of slavery into the Southwest, especially New Mexico. It inflamed sectional tensions and helped cause the [[American Civil War]]. During the [[Mexican-American War]] President [[James K. Polk]] asked Congress for $2 million to negotiate peace; everyone understood the money would be used to buy Mexican territories. A number of antislavery Democrats from the North were involved in planning the proviso and on Aug. 8, 1846, David Wilmot, a [[U.S. Democratic Party, history|Democratic]] Congressman from Pennsylvania, proposed the key amendment:  

:''Provided, That, as an express and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any territory from the Republic of Mexico…neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of said territory.''  

:''Provided, That, as an express and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any territory from the Republic of Mexico…neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of said territory.''  

==Bibliography==

==Bibliography==

* Brauer, Kinley J. ''Cotton versus Conscience: Massachusetts Whig Politics and Southwestern Expansion, 1843-1848'' (1967).  

* Brauer, Kinley J. ''Cotton versus Conscience: Massachusetts Whig Politics and Southwestern Expansion, 1843-1848'' (1967).  

* Foner, Eric. "The Wilmot Proviso Revisited." ''Journal of American History'' 1969 56(2): 262-279. Issn: 0021-8723 Fulltext: in JSTOR

* Foner, Eric. "The Wilmot Proviso Revisited." ''Journal of American History'' 1969 56(2): 262-279. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1908123  in JSTOR], looks at Democratic party politics

*Garrison, George Pierce. ''Westward Extension, 1841-1850'' (1906) ch 16 [http://books.google.com/books?vid=05DMMLPktt1prpr0nV&id=fiEdAAAAMAAJ&printsec=toc&dq=%22wilmot+proviso%22&as_brr=1&sig=h7puNI6O35QEN4BZX_ruBCOpWjU online edition]

*Garrison, George Pierce. ''Westward Extension, 1841-1850'' (1906) ch 16 [http://books.google.com/books?vid=05DMMLPktt1prpr0nV&id=fiEdAAAAMAAJ&printsec=toc&dq=%22wilmot+proviso%22&as_brr=1&sig=h7puNI6O35QEN4BZX_ruBCOpWjU online edition]

* Holt, Michael F. ''The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War.'' 1999 [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=99173945 online edition]  

* Holt, Michael F. ''The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War.'' 1999 [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=99173945 online edition]  

* Morrison, Michael A. ''Slavery and the American West: The Eclipse of Manifest Destiny and the Coming of the Civil War'' (1997), [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=54440370 online edition]

* Morrison, Michael A. ''Slavery and the American West: The Eclipse of Manifest Destiny and the Coming of the Civil War'' (1997), [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=54440370 online edition]

* Nevins, Allan. ''War for the Union'' (1947), vol 1 and 2 for the most thorough coverage

* Nevins, Allan. ''War for the Union'' (1947), vol 1 and 2 for the most thorough coverage

* Stewart, James Brewer. ''Joshua R. Giddings and the Tactics of Radical Politics.'' (1970)

* Stewart, James Brewer. ''Joshua R. Giddings and the Tactics of Radical Politics.'' (1970)

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