top of page
The Wilmot Proviso (#28)
Priyanka Dangi
Significance of the Wilmot Proviso:
The Wilmot Proviso holds great importance in the pre-Civil War time period and was the cause of many repercussions which shaped American history. This amendment created a galore of divisions and estrangements full of acrimony. There were a culmination of political, mental and geographical barriers. The Wilmot Proviso split both Whigs (the party that was against both Democrats and slavery) and Democrats along sectional lines. Both the parties disagreed on a volume of issues including whether America should gain territory from Mexico after the war. On a similar note, the Northerners and the Southerners shared a bitter, agonistic relationship that was strained due to their differing views on the issue of slavery. These two dissimilar groups also made contrasting decisions; the North accepted the Proviso while the South did their best to ignore it. This hostility finally revealed that Northern abolitionists would never be happy until their Southern counterparts would relinquish slavery.Thus, inflaming the slavery controversy and aiding to the incitement of the Civil War.
Acrimony between the North & South
Enmity between Whigs & Democrats
Hostility regarding slavery
Acrimony between the North & South
1/3
This small amendment also had a surprisingly prodigious impact impression on politics. The failure of the amendment led to the founding of the Free Soil Party, which functioned as an alliance uniting radical Democrats, anti-slavery Whigs, and the anti-slavery Liberty Party (minor political party that advocated anti-slavery since the 1840’s). David Wilmot was credited as one of the founders. The Free Soil Party endorsed the Wilmot Proviso when neither the Whig or Democratic Party addressed it, in the attempt to preserve unity in the presidential campaign of 1848. The Free Soil Party also helped Zachary Taylor (Whig presidential candidate) gain electoral votes and presidency.
At the right, you can see a poster calling a mass meeting across Fairfield Country for a grand meeting of the newly-formed Free Soil Party. This flier also advocates the motives of the Free Soil Party and describes their grand rally.
In the end, the Wilmot Proviso was tweaked and edited to meet the demands of the people. While all the northern legislatures except for one accepted the proviso, all the southerns attempted to resist it. Those that didn’t accept this doctrine branched off from their party. However, it was removed from Polk’s appropriation bill despite the disappointment of many. All in all, the Wilmot Proviso created great bitterness and high tensions between differing groups of people and these barriers were effective in dividing the country over the issue of slavery. The doctrine also helped bring about the formation of two political groups the Free Soil Party and later the Republican Party. Even though the Wilmot Proviso wasn’t the ideal document, it was a benchmark in American history that induced many crucial outcomes.
bottom of page