Wilmot Proviso facts for kids

The Wilmot Proviso was a proposed law in the United States that aimed to stop slavery from spreading into new lands. These lands were gained from Mexico after the Mexican–American War. The big arguments over this proviso were a major reason why the American Civil War later broke out.

The Wilmot Proviso: A Big Debate

The Wilmot Proviso was a very important idea in American history. It was a suggested law that caused huge arguments between the northern and southern states. These arguments were mostly about whether slavery should be allowed in new territories that the U.S. was getting.

What Was the Wilmot Proviso?

In 1846, a congressman named David Wilmot from Pennsylvania suggested an amendment (an addition) to a bill. This bill was about paying for the Mexican-American War. Wilmot's idea was that any land the U.S. won from Mexico should be free from slavery forever. This meant that slavery would not be allowed in places like California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico.

The main goal of the Wilmot Proviso was to prevent slavery from expanding. Many people in the North supported it because they believed slavery was wrong or because they didn't want slavery to compete with free labor. People in the South strongly opposed it because they felt it attacked their way of life and their right to own enslaved people.

Why Was It Proposed?

The Wilmot Proviso came about during the Mexican–American War (1846-1848). This war was fought over land disputes, especially about Texas and other territories in the Southwest. As the U.S. expected to win a lot of land from Mexico, the question of what would happen to slavery in these new areas became very urgent.

Southern states wanted to expand slavery into these new territories. They believed it was their right to take their property, including enslaved people, anywhere in the U.S. Northern states, however, feared that expanding slavery would give the South more power in Congress and spread what they saw as an immoral practice. David Wilmot proposed his proviso to address these fears and to try to limit the spread of slavery.

The Mexican-American War and New Lands

The Mexican-American War ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. Through this treaty, the United States gained a vast amount of land, known as the Mexican Cession. This included what is now California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. This huge land gain made the debate over the Wilmot Proviso even more intense.

The question was: would these new territories become slave states or free states? The balance of power in the U.S. Senate was very important. If more slave states were added, the South would have more votes to protect slavery. If more free states were added, the North would gain power. The Wilmot Proviso was a direct challenge to the South's desire to expand slavery.

The Impact and Failure of the Proviso

Even though the Wilmot Proviso was proposed many times, it never became a law. It passed in the House of Representatives several times, where the North had more votes because of its larger population. However, it always failed in the Senate, where the South had enough votes to block it.

Despite its failure to pass, the Wilmot Proviso had a massive impact. It brought the issue of slavery's expansion to the forefront of American politics. It showed how deeply divided the country was over slavery. It also led to the creation of new political parties, like the Free Soil Party, which opposed the expansion of slavery.

The debates over the Wilmot Proviso made it clear that a compromise on slavery was becoming harder and harder to find. It pushed the North and South further apart and was a significant step on the road to the American Civil War (1861-1865). It highlighted the fundamental differences between the two regions and their views on human rights and economic systems.

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  The Wilmot Proviso caused problems for presidential candidates like Zachary Taylor.

See also

In Spanish: Enmienda Wilmot para niños