Wilmot Proviso

Events leading to
the American Civil War

Northwest Ordinance Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions End of Atlantic slave trade Missouri Compromise Tariff of 1828 Nat Turner's slave rebellion Nullification Crisis Trial of Reuben Crandall Gag rule Martyrdom of Elijah Lovejoy Burning of Pennsylvania Hall End of slavery in British colonies American Slavery as It Is The Amistad affair Prigg v. Pennsylvania Texas annexation Mexican–American War Wilmot Proviso Nashville Convention Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 Uncle Tom's Cabin Kansas–Nebraska Act Recapture of Anthony Burns Ostend Manifesto Bleeding Kansas Caning of Charles Sumner Dred Scott decision The Impending Crisis of the South Lincoln–Douglas debates Oberlin–Wellington Rescue John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry 1860 presidential election Crittenden Compromise Secession of Southern States President Lincoln's 75,000 volunteers Star of the West Corwin Amendment Battle of Fort Sumter

The Wilmot Proviso was a suggested American law to outlaw slavery in territory acquired from Mexico in the Mexican–American War. The conflict over the Wilmot proviso was one of the main events leading to the American Civil War.

Wilmot Proviso Media

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  portrait of David Wilmot (1814-1868) U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania

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  Unrealized proposals to extend the Missouri Compromise line (originally defined in a way that limited it to the Louisiana Territory) all the way to the Pacific were advocated for by William W. Wick, James Polk, and Stephen Douglas, at various points.

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  An animation showing the free/slave status of U.S. states and territories, 1789–1861, including the proposed Wilmot Proviso