Wilmot Proviso APUSH Topics to Study for Test Day

The story of expansion across the land is one of the core themes of U.S. history. Don’t believe me? Check out this post on Manifest Destiny; and if that isn’t enough to convince you, there’s an APUSH theme titled â€Å"Geography and the Environment.† The land matters, and what people did with that land matters even more. The Wilmot Proviso is one such story about land use; the implications of this would be contributing factors in the Civil War. Keep reading to prepare for Wilmot Proviso APUSH topics! Is the Wilmot Proviso named after anyone? Yes. And it’s important to know who Wilmot was, as it helps you put the Wilmot Proviso into historical context. Portrait of David Wilmot (Source) David Wilmot was a Senator from Pennsylvania. He was a vocal part of the Free Soil movement and was a Northern Democrat. The fact that he was a Northern Democrat (when the Democrats relied heavily on support from Southern states) at the time he wrote his proviso will be really important moving forward. What is the Wilmot Proviso? The Wilmot Proviso is Senator Wilmot’s hope to get the territory the U.S. seized from the Mexican-American war to be â€Å"free† territory in 1848 – that is, slavery would be prohibited in these areas. Although Wilmot held anti-slavery views, these views were less about a larger desire for abolition and equality among blacks and whites; instead, Wilmot believed in free white labor and believed that slavery was an affront to those interests. It’s possible that Wilmot was suspicious of some of the claims upon which the Mexican-American War was initiated. Northerners saw it as blatantly motivated by slavery and the desires of slaveholders. In 1836, Benjamin Lundy, an abolitionist, wrote the following in his pamphlet titled The War in Texas: â€Å"We have been asked to believe that the inhabitants of Texas have been fighting to maintain the sacred principles of Liberty, and the natural, inalienable Rights of Man: whereas, their motives have been exactly the opposite. The immediate cause and main goal of this war — led by the slaveholders of this country, (with land speculators and slave traders) has been to grab the large and valuable territory of Texas from the Mexican Republic, in order to re-establish the SYSTEM OF SLAVERY; to open a vast and profitable SLAVEMARKET; and, ultimately, to annex it to the United States.† Source: Stanford History Education Group The entire premise of the Mexican-American War was questioned, both in and out of the Senate. Although his interests in abolition may not have been the same as Lundys, Wilmot intended to make sure that slaveholders were thwarted in their bid to increase their political power. Let’s look at the text of the Wilmot Proviso below. â€Å"Provided, That, as an express and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any territory from the Republic of Mexico by the United States, by virtue of any treaty which may be negotiated between them, and to the use by the Executive of the moneys herein appropriated, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of said territory, except for crime, whereof the party shall first be duly convicted.† Source: Teaching American History The Wilmot Proviso was all business. This makes sense, given the time in which David Wilmot was writing. As a Northern Democrat, Wilmot saw his own political power dwindling in his party. President Polk, a fellow Democrat, seemed to care less about the interests of free, white labor than pacifying Southern interests. Wilmot’s proviso was, in many ways, an attempt to get the administration’s attention. What happened as a result of the Wilmot Proviso? Well, if we are looking strictly at the fate of the proviso, not much. The proviso was blocked by the Senate (the Senate was dominated by Southerners and Southern interests). However, Wilmot’s proviso sparked a debate around the role of slavery in the areas where the United States expanded. What is an example Wilmot Proviso APUSH question? While you may not be asked explicitly about the Wilmot Proviso, you are likely to be asked how the tensions of this time led to the Civil War. The Wilmot Proviso is a fantastic example of how political power, and not just desires for abolition on moral grounds, led to the Civil War. Use the following excerpt in answering this multiple choice question. â€Å"In January 1849, the Virginia legislature adopted a resolution to the effect that if the Wilmot Proviso were passed, the governor should convene a special session to consider redress.† From Slavery, Capital, and Politics in the Antebellum Republic by historian John Ashworth, p. 471. The excerpt above insinuates that one of the biggest outcomes of the Wilmot Proviso was A. Violence in the form of border disputes like that in Bleeding Kansas. B. Southern states began to consider how to respond to legislation they felt limited their rights. C. Northerners would have more power in Congress and would be able to abolish slavery through legislation. D. Slavery would not be permitted in the territory acquired from the Mexican-American war. Answer: The correct answer to this Wilmot Proviso APUSH question is B. The excerpt demonstrates that the Proviso forced the hand of many politicians to start clearly supporting slavery or supporting abolition. Although some of the other options may be true, they are not implied in the excerpt above.