Section #1 - Lincoln’s Long Journey Home to Racial Equality
Chapter 8: The Wilmot Proviso Threatens the Expansion of Slavery
When Polk asks the House for $2 million to pay for the conflict, a Pennsylvania Democrat, David Wilmot, offers an amendment of conditional support “only if slavery is banned on any Mexican land won in the war.”
Abe votes for the Proviso, and it passes in the House by an 85-80 margin along regional (North vs. South) not party (Whig vs. Democrat) lines, with Northerners for and Southerners against.
Although the South tables the Proviso in the Senate, the warning is clear: the North looks determined to ban the spread of slavery into the west.
House Vote on the Wilmot Proviso (August 8, 1846)
| Region | Democrats Yes – No | Whigs Yes – No | American Yes – No | Total Yes – No |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northeast | 37 – 0 | 24 – 6 | 5 – 0 | 66 – 6 |
| Northwest | 15 – 4 | 2 – 2 | — | 17 – 6 |
| Free States | 52 – 4 | 26 – 8 | 5 – 0 | 83 – 12 |
| Border | 0 – 9 | 2 – 9 | — | 2 – 18 |
| Southeast | 0 – 27 | 0 – 7 | — | 0 – 34 |
| Southwest | 0 – 15 | 0 – 1 | — | 0 – 16 |
| Slave States | 0 – 51 | 2 – 17 | — | 2 – 68 |
| Total | 52 – 55 | 28 – 25 | 5 – 0 | 85 – 80 |
| (Not voting) | (32) | (23) | (1) | (56) |