Wilmot Proviso Analysis

About a week after arguing in the Matson Trial, Lincoln moved with his family from Springfield, Illinois, to Washington, D.C. prior to the start of his term in Congress. By then, he was married and had two children. During and around Lincoln’s time in Congress, both the Democratic Party and the Whig Party, the major political parties at the time, fought to keep slavery in places. The Wilmot Proviso, a proposed bill that would outlaw slavery in the newly acquired territory as a result of the Mexican War, was introduced by U.S. Representative David Wilmot of Pennsylvania in 1846.

After failing to pass before the end of the legislative session, the bill was re-introduced several times during the congress that Lincoln served in. He voted for the bill several times. A fellow unidentified member of Congress remarked that slavery overwhelming dominated the discussions in congressional proceedings. Later, the Democrats and Whigs became divided regionally, with

Another reason for his opposition is that it did not include a certain date in which children born after then would be freed as adults. Throughout his Senate campaign against Stephen Douglas in 1858, including during the famous debates, Lincoln reiterated that he was against slavery. After losing in the U.S. Senate election in 1854, he would join the newly established Republican Party – a coalition of abolitionists and other anti-slavery people.

After placing a distance second for the first Republican Vice Presidential nomination in 1856, Lincoln was nominated for President of the United States in 1860. Due to deep interparty divisions among the Democratic Party and former Whigs in regards to slavery, the election featured four major candidates. Despite winning less than 40% of the popular vote and not appearing on some ballots in many Southern States, Lincoln managed to win a majority of electoral