David Wilmot

This article is about the politician. For the actor, seeDavid Wilmot (actor).

"Senator Wilmot" redirects here. For the Wisconsin State Senate member, seeGilead J. Wilmot.

David Wilmot
Judge of theUnited States Court of Claims
In office March 7, 1863 – March 16, 1868
Appointed by	Abraham Lincoln
Preceded by	Seat established by 12 Stat. 765
Succeeded by	Samuel Milligan
United States Senator fromPennsylvania
In office March 14, 1861 – March 3, 1863
Preceded by	Simon Cameron
Succeeded by	Charles R. Buckalew
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromPennsylvania's12thdistrict
In office March 4, 1845 – March 3, 1851
Preceded by	George Fuller
Succeeded by	Galusha A. Grow
Personal details
Born	(1814-01-20)January 20, 1814 Bethany,Pennsylvania,U.S.
Died	March 16, 1868(1868-03-16)(aged 54) Towanda,Pennsylvania,U.S.
Resting place	Riverside Cemetery Towanda,Pennsylvania
Political party	Democratic(until 1848) Free Soil(from 1848) Republican(from 1854)
Spouse	Anna Morgan
Children	3
Signature

David Wilmot(January 20, 1814 – March 16, 1868) was an American politician and judge. He served asRepresentativeand aSenatorforPennsylvaniaand as ajudgeof theCourt of Claims.He is best known for being the prime sponsor and eponym of theWilmot Proviso,a failed proposal to ban the expansion of slavery to western lands gained in theMexican Cession.A notable member of the anti-slaveryFree Soil Party,Wilmot later was instrumental in establishing theRepublican Partyin Pennsylvania.

Education and career

David Wilmot was born on January 20, 1814, inBethany, Pennsylvania.He completed preparatory studies at the local Beech Woods Academy and the Cayuga Lake Academy inAurora, Cayuga County, New York.He thenread lawwith Pennsylvania state judgeWilliam JessupinMontrose, Pennsylvania,and withGeorge Washington WoodwardinWilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania,in August 1834.Wilmot was admitted to the bar ofBradford County, Pennsylvania,and entered private practice inTowanda,from 1834 to 1844.

Congressional service

Wilmot was elected as aDemocratfromPennsylvania's 12th congressional districtto theUnited States House of Representativesof the29th,30thand31st United States Congresses,serving from March 4, 1845, to March 3, 1851.

Introducing the Wilmot Proviso

Upon taking his seat in Congress, Wilmot initially supported the policies of Democratic presidentJames K. Polk.He also became part of an informal group of anti-slavery Democrats led by New York congressmanPreston King,who was a protégé of New York governorSilas Wrightand an ally of former presidentMartin Van Buren.Although Wilmot opposed the extension of slavery into the territories, he was generally considered to be a Democratic Party loyalist; he supported Polk in the initiation of theMexican–American Warand was the lone House Democrat from Pennsylvania to vote for theWalker tariff.However, during Polk's presidency, anti-slavery Northern Democrats increasingly came to view Polk as unduly favorable toSoutherninterests. They were specifically disappointed by Polk's decision to compromise with Britain over thepartition of Oregon,as well as Polk's veto of aninternal improvementsbill.AsJames G. Blainelater wrote:

"David Wilmot represented a district which had always given Democratic majorities and was himself an intense partisan of that political school. He was a man of strongphysiqueand strong common sense; of phlegmatic temperament, without any pretension to genius; a sensible speaker, with no claim to eloquence or oratory. But he had courage, determination, and honesty ".

In August 1846, an appropriations bill for $2 million to be used by the President in negotiating a treaty of peace with Mexico was introduced in the House.Wilmot immediately offered the following amendment:

"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."

Wilmot modeled the language for what would usually be referred to as the Wilmot Proviso after theNorthwest Ordinanceof 1787.Unlike some Northern Whigs, Wilmot and other anti-slavery Democrats were largely unconcerned by the issue of racial equality, and instead opposed the expansion of slavery because they believed the institution was detrimental to the "laboring white man".HistorianSean Wilentzwrites that it is unclear why Wilmot, an "unremarkable" first-term Congressman, was the one to introduce the measure. Wilmot would later claim that he had introduced the proviso independent of any other members of Congress, while CongressmanJacob Brinkerhoffclaimed that he was the true author of the proviso. Wilentz speculates that the proviso was jointly drafted by Wilmot and other anti-slavery Democrats, and that the drafters agreed that whoever had the first opportunity to introduce the proviso would do so.

In a February 1847 debate over the Proviso, Wilmot explained that he was not an abolitionist, and was not seeking to abolish slavery in the Southern states, but simply wanted to preserve the integrity of free territories that did not have slavery and did not want it:

"We ask that this Government protect the integrity of free territory against the aggressions of slavery—against its wrongful usurpations. Sir, I was in favor of the annexation of Texas. I supported it with the whole influence which I possessed, and I was willing to take Texas in as she was. I sought not to change the character of her institutions. Texas was a slave country. We voted for the annexation of Texas. The Democracy of the North was for it, to a man. We are for it now—firmly for it. Sir, we are fighting this war for Texas, and for the South. I affirm it; here is a matter well known to the Union. Now, sir, we are told that California is ours; and so it is. I intend to refer more particularly to this subject before I conclude. But, we are told, California is ours. And all we ask in the North is, that the character of its territory be preserved. It is free; and it is part of the established law of nations, and all public law, that when it shall come in to this Union, all laws there existing, not inconsistent with its new allegiance, will remain in force. This fundamental law, which prohibits slavery in California, will be in force; this fundamental law, which prohibits slavery in New Mexico, will be in force. Shall the South invade it? Shall the South make this Government an instrument for the violation of its neutrality, and for the establishment of slavery in these territories, in defiance of law? That is the question. There is no question of abolition here, sir. It is a question whether the South shall be permitted, by aggression, by invasion of right, by subduing free territory and planting slavery upon it, to wrest this territory to the accomplishment of its own sectional purposes and schemes? That is the question. And shall we of the North submit to it? Must we yield this? It is not, sir, in the spirit of the compact; it is not, sir, in the Constitution."

In an 1848 speech, Wilmot responded to critics who called him a radical abolitionist by pointing toThomas Jefferson's proposedLand Ordinance of 1784,which would have banned slavery in a large portion of western territory slated for federal expansion.

"This sir, looks very much like the 'Proviso.' Here is the original" firebrand "—the heresy, for holding onto which men are now proscribed by the government of their country. Mr. Jefferson, had he lived at this day, would have been denounced as an abolitionist, and a disturber of the peace of the Union."

The House, after first voting down a counter-proposal simply to extend theMissouri Compromiseline across theMexican Cession,passed the proviso by a vote of 83–64. This led to an attempt to table the entire appropriations bill rather than pass it with "the obnoxious proviso attached", but this effort was defeated "in an ominously sectional vote, 78–94".TheUnited States Senateadjourned rather than approve the bill with the proviso.

Free Soil movement

Wilmot and other Free Soilers sought to exclude slavery from theMexican Cession(red), which was acquired from Mexico in the 1848Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

A measure to the Wilmot Proviso was brought forward at the next session of Congress, with the appropriation amount increased to $3 million, and the scope of the amendment expanded to include all future territory which might be acquired by the United States. This was passed in the House by a vote of 115 to 105, but the Senate refused to concur and passed a bill of its own without the amendment. The House acquiesced, owing largely to the influence of generalLewis Cass.As the 1848 presidential election took shape, the Democrats rejected the Wilmot Proviso in their platform and selected Cass as their candidate to run on apopular sovereigntyplatform. The newFree Soil Partyrallied around the Wilmot Proviso, and nominated Van Buren on a platform calling for "No more slave states and no more slave territory."

By 1848 Wilmot was thoroughly identified as a Free Soiler, but, like many other Free Soilers, he did not oppose the expansion of slavery based on a legal rejection of the short-term existence of the institution itself, but rather because he felt slavery was detrimental to the interests of whites. In fact, he sometimes referred to the Wilmot proviso as the "White Man's Proviso".In a speech in the House, Wilmot said, "I plead the cause and the rights of white freemen [and] I would preserve to 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."Around the same time, however, Wilmot, in a New York speech, spoke of the ultimate demise of slavery when he argued, "Keep it within given limits...and in time it will wear itself out. Its existence can only be perpetuated by constant expansion.... Slavery has within itself the seeds of its own destruction."

Wilmot was presented as the Free Soil candidate forspeaker of the United States House of Representativesin 1849 and was soon at odds with the mainstream Pennsylvania Democratic Party led byJames Buchanan.Wilmot was forced to withdraw from the 1850 congressional elections in favor of the more moderateGalusha A. Grow.

State judicial service

Wilmot was President Judge of thePennsylvania Court of Common Pleasfor the Thirteenth Judicial District from 1851 to 1861.He took a leading part in the founding of theRepublican Partyin 1854.He was Chairman of the Republican Party platform committee, was a delegate to the1856 Republican National Conventionand worked vigorously for the first Republican presidential candidate,John C. Fremont,in the1856 election.He was an unsuccessful Republican candidate forGovernor of Pennsylvaniain 1857,losing toWilliam F. Packer.

Later congressional service

Wilmot was elected as a Republican to the Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation ofSimon Cameron.Wilmot served from March 14, 1861, to March 3, 1863.He was not a candidate for reelection in 1862.He was a member of thePeace Convention of 1861,held inWashington, D.C.,in an effort to devise means to prevent the impendingAmerican Civil War.

Federal judicial service

Wilmot was nominated by presidentAbraham Lincolnon March 6, 1863, tothe Court of Claims,to a new seat authorized by 12 Stat. 765.He was confirmed by the Senate on March 7, 1863, and received his commission the same day.

Wilmot died on March 16, 1868.He was interred in Riverside Cemetery in Towanda.

Family

Wilmot's house inBethany, Pennsylvania

Wilmot was the son of Randall (1792–1876) and Mary (née Grant) Wilmot (1792–1820).His father was a well-to-do merchant, and David's early life was a comfortable one.In 1836, he married Anna Morgan. The couple had three children, none of whom survived childhood.

Legacy and honors

• A Pennsylvania State historical marker is placed at Williams Street at the Riverside Cemetery, Towanda, identifying the cemetery as his resting place.
• TheWilmot Housewas added to theNational Register of Historic Placesin 1974, andDavid Wilmot Schoolin 1988.

Sources

• United States Congress."David Wilmot (id: W000566)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• "Wilmot, David – Federal Judicial Center".Fjc.gov.
• Berwanger, Eugene H.The Frontier Against Slavery: Western Anti-Negro Prejudice and the Slavery Extension Controversy.(1967)ISBN0-252-07056-9.
• Foner, Eric.Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party Before the Civil War.(1970)ISBN0-19-509981-8.
• Levine, Bruce.Half Slave and Half Free: The Roots of Civil War.(1992).
• McKnight, Brian D., article on David Wilmot inEncyclopedia of the American Civil War,edited by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler, 2000,ISBN0-393-04758-X.
• Morrison, Michael A.Slavery and the American West: The Eclipse of Manifest Destiny and the Coming of the Civil War.(1997)ISBN0-8078-2319-8.
• Wilentz, Sean (2005).The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln.W. W. Norton & Company.ISBN0-393-05820-4.

External links

• David WilmotatFind a Grave
• "Wilmot, David".New International Encyclopedia.1905.