The Wilmot Proviso" was also referred to as the "White Man's Proviso" because its sponsor, David Wilmot, was arguing for new territories to be dedicated to white settlement only.
In 1846, Congressman David Wilmot of Pennsylvania introduced
the proviso as an amendment to an appropriations bill in connection with the
peace treaty being negotiated with Mexico. His amendment stipulated that
any territory gained from Mexico would be free, not allowing slavery.
Debated in 1847, Wilmot's amendment passed in the House of Representatives, but
was unable to get approval in the Senate. Wilmot's reason for his proposal was
not because he was defending the cause of blacks or seeking to outlaw slavery.
In a speech he delivered in the House of Representatives in 1847, Wilmot said:
"I make no war upon the South nor upon slavery in the South. I have no
squeamish sensitiveness upon the subject of slavery, nor morbid sympathy for
the slave. I plead the cause of the rights of white freemen. I would preserve
for free white labor a fair country, a rich inheritance, where the sons of
toil, of my own race and own color, can live without the disgrace which
association with Negro slavery brings upon free labor."
