Westward extension, 1841-1850, by George Pierce Garrison.

WILMOT PROVISO

255

terests of slavery, and the other to guard those interests from national interference.'
The process of party reorganization with reference to slavery as the main issue becomes easily
traceable during the Mexican War, and the first important phase of it was the struggle over what was
termed the Wilmot Proviso. This was an attempt
to prevent slavery from following the United States
flag southwestward. It proceeded not from the party of opposition to the war, the Whigs, to whom
the elections of 1846 had given control of the
House, but from the Democracy. The man with
whom it originated was Jacob Brinkerhoff, a representative from Ohio, who belonged to the ardent
group of dissatisfied followers of Van Buren.2 He
had vigorously opposed the annexation of Texas,
and had sought to amend the resolution for its enactment so as to exclude slavery from the western
and northwestern half of the territory annexed.3 It
is interesting to note that he at that time claimed
half the territory to be annexed for the North as a
matter of equity; the Wilmot Proviso, however, was
based on the denial of a similar claim on behalf of
the South.
During the progress of the Mexican War Brinkerhoff took advantage of a favorable opportunity to
1 Cf. Chadwick, Causes of the Civil War (Am. Nation, XIX.),
chap. iv.
2 See his speech on the annexation of Texas, in Cong. Globe,
28 Cong., 2 Sess., 13I. 3 Ibid., 132, 192.