Representative David Wilmot introduced this amendment in 1846 during a debate over a bill to fund the Mexican War. It prohibited slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico. Wilmot hoped to use Congress’s constitutional power of the purse to prevent the diffusion of slavery during the nation’s westward expansion. This amendment passed in the House but failed in the Senate. The Wilmot Proviso was reintroduced several more times in subsequent years, but was never enacted.
Survey of St. John River and British Settlements of New Brunswick
Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
